[30] Following the independence of Peru from the Spanish Empire, the economic elite focused their power on the coastal regions through centralismo, while the rural provinces were governed by existing serfdom practices by hacienda landowners.

[30][37][31][38] The nation has more recently adopted the Lima Consensus, an economic ideology of neoliberalism, deregulation and free market policies that has made foreign portfolio investment in Peru attractive.

Peruvian economic performance has been tied to exports, which provide hard currency to finance imports and external debt payments, though in recent decades the economy has begun to diversify.

[46] Officials would travel to cities and provinces where they would be provided quipus storing data, with Inca territories contributing what was possible; whether it be labor (mit'a), textiles, food, weapons or construction materials.

[47] The huge amounts of silver exported from the Viceroyalty of Peru and Mexico deeply affected Europe, where some scholars believe it caused the so-called price revolution.

[48] Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt first encountered guano in 1802 and started fertilizer research Callao in Peru, with his findings being reported throughout Europe.

[73][74] Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre founded the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) calling for reforms, though Leguía quickly banned the party.

[73] Leguía increased spending to modernize Peru, though this also raised national debt and with the addition of the Great Depression in 1929, he was overthrown soon-after in 1930 by Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro.

[73] President Prado adopted a softer tone on APRA while Aprista leader Haya de la Torre also espoused more moderate policy and support for foreign markets.

[73] APRA was made a legal party in 1945 and in José Luis Bustamante y Rivero was elected the same year, making an Aprista politician the Minister of the Economy.

[33] The Velasco government took a structural approach; it invested in infrastructure and began a widespread nationalization campaign of key economic production sectors, education and the media.

[33] However, corruption scandals and widespread protests broke out and the military government agreed to transition Peru back into a democratic political system.

[33] On the day of the election, Shining Path launched its armed struggle in Chuschi with a ballot burning incident, essentially beginning the internal conflict in Peru.

[33] However, Belaúnde's government could not develop a monetary policy, failed at managing state-run entities and faced a growing external debt, leaving Peru in a vulnerable state.

[33] The Peruvian armed forces grew frustrated with the inability of the García administration to handle the nation's crises and began to draft a plan to overthrow his government.

[34][80] After taking office, Fujimori abandoned the economic platform he promoted during his campaign, adopting more aggressive neoliberal policies than those espoused by Vargas Llosa, his competitor in the election.

[32][93] President Alejandro Toledo continued to promote the decentralization of Peru,[31] while the former social democrat Alan García took implementation of the consensus even further, adopting policies similar to Augusto Pinochet.

Peruvian agricultural exports are highly appreciated and include artichokes, grapes, avocados, mangoes, peppers, sugarcane, organic coffee and premium-quality cotton.

Tourism has represented a new growth industry in Peru since the early 1990s, with the government and private sector dedicating considerable energies to boosting the country's tourist destinations both to Peruvians and foreigners.

[106] It was instated in 1991, when the Peruvian government abandoned the inti due to hyperinflation of the currency; the sol has since maintained the lowest inflation rate in Latin America.

Out of all the currencies of the Latin American region, the sol is the most stable and reliable, being the least affected by the downturn in the value of the US dollar; during late 2007 and early 2008, the exchange rate fell to 2.69 to 1, which had not been seen since 1997.

In 2018, the segments were described as "crude" by Miguel Planas of the Ministry of Finance due to the complicated structure of the society in Peru, where some classes make money off of illegal trade which aren't counted in the GDP, and are thus falsely classified as low income or marginalised poor families.

Peru's stability brought about a substantial reduction in underemployment, from an average of 74% from the late 1980s through 1994 to 43% in the 1995–96 period, but the rates began climbing again in 1997–2002 to over half the working population.

With expanding ports loading up boats to China on one side, and a new superhighway to Brazil on the other, along with a free trade agreement with the United States in its hip pocket, Peru seems well-positioned to prosper in the coming years.

[citation needed] The country is likely to attract future domestic and foreign investment in tourism, agriculture, mining, petroleum and natural gas, power industries and financial institutions.

[citation needed] The Central Bank engages in open market activities to prevent the price of the sol from rising to levels that would cause Peruvian exports to become prohibitively expensive.

This year, in August 2024, Peru and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for greater foreign direct investment (FDI) and shared technological innovation.

Imports – partners: Mainland China 25%, US 15%, European Union 15%, Brazil 10%, Japan 10%, Chile 5%, Colombia 5%, Mexico 5%, Ecuador 4%, Bolivia 1%, Rest of World 5% (2013).

Humala's Union for Peru won 45 of 120 seats in Congress in 2006, the largest share by a single party, prompting debate on ratification of the agreement before the new legislature was sworn in.

In response to these concerns, Peruvian lawmakers created a Compensation Fund which directed $34 million per year to cotton, maize/corn, and wheat producers for a five-year period to help them adjust to the new competitive pressures.