Over the last decade Peru has consistently been the fastest-growing economy in Latin America, and unlike some of its neighbours, has been remarkably resilient to global headwinds, registering positive growth rates for an uninterrupted 18 years through to 2016. While the pace of growth has slowed as the long commodities boom ebbed after 2012, Peru recorded an average annual growth rate of 5.9% in 2005-15, almost double the 3% rate for Latin America as a whole. Stakeholders and investors will now be looking to efforts by the new government, which took office in July 2016, to address problems, implement additional reforms and spur further economic growth.

The human rights records of more than ninety countries and territories are put into perspective in Human Rights Watch's signature yearly report. Reflecting extensive investigative work undertaken in 2016 by Human Rights Watch staff, in close partnership with domestic human rights activists, the annual World Report is an invaluable resource for journalists, diplomats, and citizens, and is a must-read for anyone interested in the fight to protect human rights in every corner of the globe.

Why are carefully designed, sensible policies too often not adopted or implemented? When they are, why do they often fail to generate development outcomes such as security, growth, and equity? And why do some bad policies endure? World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development. Policy making and policy implementation do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in complex political and social settings, in which individuals and groups with unequal power interact within changing rules as they pursue conflicting interests. The process of these interactions is what this Report calls governance, and the space in which these interactions take place, the policy arena. The capacity of actors to commit and their willingness to cooperate and coordinate to achieve socially desirable goals are what matter for effectiveness. However, who bargains, who is excluded, and what barriers block entry to the policy arena determine the selection and implementation of policies and, consequently, their impact on development outcomes. Exclusion, capture, and clientelism are manifestations of power asymmetries that lead to failures to achieve security, growth, and equity. The distribution of power in society is partly determined by history. Yet, there is room for positive change. This Report reveals that governance can mitigate, even overcome, power asymmetries to bring about more effective policy interventions that achieve sustainable improvements in security, growth, and equity. This happens by shifting the incentives of those with power, reshaping their preferences in favor of good outcomes, and taking into account the interests of previously excluded participants. These changes can come about through bargains among elites and greater citizen engagement, as well as by international actors supporting rules that strengthen coalitions for reform.

Expanding at an average rate of 6.4% per annum since the mid-2000s, Peru’s economic growth has been remarkable, but also heavily dependent on one sector. Driven by a sharp rise in commodity prices, the mining industry spurred Peru’s economy to the fastest sustained growth rate in Latin America during much of the past decade.The end of the commodities supercycle however, saw economic growth slow down substantially over the course of 2014, with the central bank revising growth projections to 3.1% in mid-October. In a bid to stimulate growth, the government has intensified diversification efforts and introduced a series of measures aimed at promoting investment. The current economic slowdown, attributable in part to delays in some major mining developments, is generally seen as a temporary one, and growth is expected to pick up again in 2015. While mining will remain the backbone of the Peruvian economy - in particular from 2016 and beyond as several large-scale copper projects come on-line - other sectors, including industry and tourism, should begin to play increasingly important roles.

The best country-by-country assessment of human rights. The human rights records of more than ninety countries and territories are put into perspective in Human Rights Watch's signature yearly report. Reflecting extensive investigative work undertaken by Human Rights Watch staff, in close partnership with domestic human rights activists, the annual World Report is an invaluable resource for journalists, diplomats, and citizens, and is a must-read for anyone interested in the fight to protect human rights in every corner of the globe.

Fourteenth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 190 economies, Doing Business 2017 measures aspects of regulation affecting 10 areas of everyday business activity: • Starting a business • Dealing with construction permits • Getting electricity • Registering property • Getting credit • Protecting minority investors • Paying taxes • Trading across borders • Enforcing contracts • Resolving insolvency These areas are included in the distance to frontier score and ease of doing business ranking. Doing Business also measures features of labor market regulation, which is not included in these two measures. This year’s report introduces major improvements by expanding the paying taxes indicators to cover postfiling processes—tax audits, tax refunds and tax appeals—and presents analysis of pilot data on selling to the government which measures public procurement regulations. Also for the first time this year Doing Business collects data on Somalia, bringing the total number of economies covered to 190. Using the data originally developed by Women, Business and the Law, this year for the first time Doing Business adds a gender component to three indicators—starting a business, registering property, and enforcing contracts—and finds that those economies which limit women’s access in these areas have fewer women working in the private sector both as employers and employees. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2016, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business†?, and analyzes reforms to business regulation †“ identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. Doing Business illustrates how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. It is a flagship product produced in partnership by the World Bank Group that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 137 economies have used the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 2,182 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.

Over the past decade Peru has seen a period of transformative growth, effectively positioning it as one of the leading economic performers in Latin America. Posting growth rates in excess of 6% from 2010-12, the economy expanded by a further 5.1% in the first half of 2013. A major metals and minerals exporter with a burgeoning agricultural sector, Peru’s rapid economic growth has been the result of elevated global demand for commodities and key exports, as well as prudent fiscal planning and the expansion of non-primary sectors. With an investor-friendly legal framework, Peru has become a prime destination for foreign direct investment and was recently ranked the second-best country for doing business in Latin America by the World Bank. Despite ongoing social conflict related to extractive industries and a sizeable infrastructure gap, Peru’s stable macroeconomic environment and its efforts to diversify and guard against price volatility should ensure continued growth for this Andean economy.