Pedro Pablo Kuczynski
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| Pedro Pablo Kuczynski | |
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| Born | October 3, 1938 |
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| Occupation | Economist |
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard (born 1938) is a Peruvian economist and politician, and a former prime minister of the country. He was born in Peru, of Polish and French parents, and since 1999 he became a naturalized United States citizen and conserves dual citizenship.
[edit] Academic and professional history
Kuczynski was educated at Oxford University and Princeton University. He began his career at the World Bank in 1961 where he held senior positions, and worked later at the International Finance Corporation. He later became Director of the Peruvian Central Bank (1967-1969), and as Minister of Energy and Mines during the Government of Fernando Belaúnde Terry. In the private sector, he has served as Vice Chairman of CAP S.A., a Chilean steel and forest products company (1992-1994) and he was a funds manager prior to re-entering public service. As a key member of the administration of President Alejandro Toledo and previously Fernando Belaúnde Terry, he claims to be politically independent.
He served as economy and finance minister twice under President Toledo, from July 2001 to July 2002, and from February 2004 to August 2005. In August 2005 he was appointed Prime Minister. While he has been credited with the macro economic success of Peru between 2001 and 2005, some detractors claim that Peru's economy has prospered only due to the high prices of commodities and minerals, and that the economy could actually have grown more were it not for Kuczynski's fiscal policies.
Allegedly, he has expressed desire to become President of Peru someday though in a February, 2007 interview in Perus "El Comercio," he said (translated paraphrase) that his "public service was on hold for now."
Among his activities after the Toledo government is the development of an NGO which is to focus on providing basic water services to people in rural Peru.
Controversy: Dual Citizenship has fueled his opponents to argue that he served Peru's government under an apparent conflict of interest with the U.S., as the U.S. requires its naturalized citizens to swear under oath that they are not to serve another government opposing U.S. national interests. Specifically, the oath of allegiance taken by all new U.S. citizens states: "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen...". Peru's Ministers also must make an allegiance of loyalty to Peru.
According to some of his detractors, his dual nationalism has become a point of utmost importance for potential accusations of corruption or even high treason, since he, as minister of economy and later as prime minister, was directly involved in negotiations of a Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. Also, holding high office he opined to prompt the judiciary to expedite rulings on suits that the Peruvian tax authority (SUNAT) had filed against nine U.S. corporations involving several hundred million dollars. Importantly, the U.S. government had conditioned uninterrupted negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement to the resolution of the judicial disputes.
| Preceded by Carlos Ferrero |
Prime Minister of Peru August 14, 2005 – July 28, 2006 |
Succeeded by Jorge del Castillo |
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