Kurt Burneo, Peru's former Minister of Economy, has called on the incoming Fujimori administration to move beyond planning and turn its policy proposals into concrete, evidence-based action, warning that public trust in the new government will depend on how legally and financially sound those measures prove to be.
In an opinion column, Burneo said citizens' expectations are now fixed on the solutions the incoming government has promised for the country's many problems. He said the list of initiatives cannot be treated as a simple wish list, arguing that the credibility the administration still has to earn will depend on how legally plausible, properly budgeted and well coordinated those proposals are.
Burneo said policies should be based on evidence, and that the governing plan, once in force, must include strategies and actions capable of genuinely improving the welfare of all Peruvians. He said Peru needs to discuss what truly matters, noting that public policy consists of State actions aimed at resolving or addressing problems in society, defined whenever the present situation differs from the ideal one.
Security, growth and El Nino
Among the main challenges, Burneo pointed to the need to strengthen citizen security and to develop policies for economic growth carried out with fiscal responsibility. He said the government must act proactively in the face of the El Nino phenomenon, both the global and coastal versions, whose intensity he said will increase in the coming months.
El Nino is a periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean that can bring heavy rains, flooding and disruption to fishing and farming along Peru's coast.
Burneo also said Peru must define how it will position itself amid trade tensions between China and the United States, and how it will efficiently adopt technologies tied to what he called the fourth industrial revolution, including artificial intelligence, biotechnology and nanotechnology.
Institutions, informality and next steps
He added that the government must also work out how to restore the standing of the country's institutions, reduce informality and poverty, and promote small and medium-sized businesses, among other challenges.
Burneo questioned whether officials have weighed the scale and type of legal instruments needed to meet these challenges, whether through laws, supreme decrees or ministerial resolutions, some of which fall outside the control of the Executive branch. He also asked what is known about the internal coherence that must exist among the regulations still to be drafted.
Burneo said the policies to be applied amount to far more than a list of good intentions, and that the credibility of the incoming administration, along with the country's governability, will depend on how those policies are implemented and how effective they prove to be.
Burneo holds a doctorate in business administration from Ramon Llull-Esade University in Spain and a master's degree in economics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. He was a former scholarship student at the graduate school of economics of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, and holds an economics degree from the National University of San Marcos in Lima. He is a researcher registered with Concytec-Renacyt, Peru's national council for science, technology and technological innovation.
