• President of the Private Competitiveness Council David Tuesta said it was important to harness the national mining industry’s expertise.

President of the Private Competitiveness Council David Tuesta announced a set of proposals for bolstering public spending and gap closing in the northern macroregion at Rumbo a PERUMIN, an event organized by the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers.

One of these proposals is to implement a comprehensive strategy of early interventions to close gaps, which includes follow-up responsibilities. “One needs to create certain basic conditions prior to the investment, i.e., some sort of vision of escalation,” he said.

Additionally, the Social Advancement Fund needs to be used; resources are to be generated by eliminating unproductive expenditures. Tuesta indicated that, even though this tool was created a few years ago, we have yet to take advantage of all its benefits. 

“The Central Reserve Bank (BCR) has recently replicated the Inter-American Development Bank’s methodology for calculating the level of income available that could be collected by reducing unnecessary central government expenditures. We are talking about nearly 2 GDP points,” he noted.

With one fourth of those 2 GDP points (0.5 GDP points), we could activate the Social Advancement Fund to certain extent. “Based on my experience on this matter, I believe this is an area that we could easily work on. It is just a question of decision,” he stressed.

The Mining Sector’s Expertise

David Tuesta also mentioned that we need the engagement of the mining sector, given its extensive experience in planning and large investment management, as well as intangible capabilities, such as its relationships with the communities in different regions across the country.

“We think it is important to get the mining sector involved because it possesses sound knowledge of integration and planning, not only in social but also productive terms. It is crucial to draw on this expertise and incorporate it in a more systematic fashion to ensure more efficient public spending,” he added.

This is aligned with the proposal being made by the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers (IIMP) for creating a public-private initiative with the private companies so that, playing the role of a development agency, it will foster knowledge sharing in order to have robust territorial planning, project prioritization, and efficient and transparent project implementation.

Accountability

Furthermore, David Tuesta emphasized the need to incorporate the accountability mechanism. “There are many actors involved, but who is to call the shoots in each of the areas where accountability has been added has not been determined. And there needs to be a budget thrown into this mix to ensure that it works.”

He pointed out that, in order to solve the issue of capacities, we could copy the Colombian model, in which implementation functions are not assigned equally to all. “What we propose is a trigger scheme in which you are assigned additional functions as you meet the accreditation objectives. In the meantime, there should be some kind of institution that manages those resources.”

Rumbo a PERUMIN

Rumbo a PERUMIN is an initiative of the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers (IIMP) and the Executive Committee of PERUMIN 36. It involves an agenda of virtual activities that seek to create spaces for analysis, knowledge and debate on mining.