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Saturday, November 8, 2014

Peru eyes tax reforms to spur growth: finance minister

(Reuters) - The government of Peruvian President Ollanta Humala is evaluating tax reforms to stimulate anemic economic growth and has not ruled out trimming the corporate tax rate from 30 percent, the finance minister said on Thursday.

Finance Minister Alonso Segura told Reuters the government will announce potential changes to the tax system by the end of the year, as well as a new policy package to jumpstart the economy and improve competitiveness.

Segura said the government decided not to lower the sales tax, but declined to offer other specifics on the taxes it was looking at.  When asked if the corporate rate was included in the evaluation, he said yes.

"But because it's an evaluation, we're not saying we're going to reduce it," Segura said in an interview. "We will make a decision very soon."

Last month, the country's production minister said the government was no longer considering tax cuts to spur growth. Humala's government launched several reforms in the past year as the economy slowed sharply on tumbling mineral exports and waning private investment.

Earlier on Thursday, Peru said it was boosting short-term spending by $550 million and streamlining the process to obtain environmental permits in a bid to ward off an extended slowdown.

Segura said the government would not likely boost public spending again in the coming months, but added it will continue looking for ways to cut red tape to speed up investments.

reuters.com

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