LIMA: Peru’s currency fell to a record low against the US dollar on Friday as the Lima stock exchange dropped more than six percent amid uncertainty over the next finance minister.
On Thursday, President Pedro Castillo named most of his cabinet but crucially did not pick anyone for finance or justice portfolios.
The exchange rate to the dollar passed four soles for the first time — hitting 4.06 soles — while the Lima stock exchange plunged 6.24 percent. On Thursday, Castillo named Guido Bellido, a 41-year-old electronic engineer and fellow leftist with no experience in public office, as his prime minister.
He also picked 85-year-old former guerrilla Hector Bejar to be his foreign minister.
Castillo was expected to name economist Pedro Francke, his economic advisor during the election campaign, as finance minister but that did not happen.
Daily newspaper La Republica said Francke had turned down the post over the appointment of Bellido, a member of Castillo’s Marxist-Leninist Free Peru party who became a lawmaker just six days ago.
Peruvian media say Bellido was investigated by prosecutors for an alleged “apology for terrorism” over statements made after taking up his parliamentary seat last Friday — which assured him immunity from prosecution.
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