Peruvian lawmakers voted on Thursday to endorse the government’s new slate of ministers, barely hours after the prime minister promised billions of dollars in new expenditure, notably on mining projects.
The vote of confidence in President Dina Boluarte’s latest cabinet succeeded by a landslide, with 70 votes in favor and only 35 opposed, following recent corruption allegations against the country’s embattled leader.
According to the report, if the cabinet did not receive congressional support, all of her ministers would have been compelled to retire.
Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen also presented the budget proposal to Congress, which included $4.6 billion for mining and almost $8 billion for public-private partnerships.
Peru is a top global copper producer, and taxes on the sales of the red metal are a key source of government revenue.
Boluarte’s government has been shaken by allegations that she improperly acquired luxury Rolex watches along with other claims of illicit enrichment. Boluarte has denied all wrongdoing.
Nearly a third of the government’s ministers resigned on Monday following a weekend police raid of the president’s residence, raising the pressure on Boluarte, who took office in 2022 as Peru’s sixth president in just six years.
The president’s situation grew more complicated on Tuesday when the prosecutor’s office expanded its investigation into bank deposits of “unknown origin” and Boluarte’s acquisition of a Cartier bracelet worth tens of thousands of dollars.
In his address to lawmakers, the prime minister added that the government expected this year to finalize a move to improve commercial ties with China, part of a free trade agreement signed in 2009 that has boosted exports notably of Peruvian mining products.
Negotiations to amend the treaty began in 2019.
