Central Reserve Bank: Eduardo Torres Llosa takes over general management

Eduardo Torres Llosa Villacorta today assumed the general management of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCR), after taking the oath of office before the president of the judiciary, Elvia Barrios Palomino.

Mr. Torres Llosa was General Manager of BBVA Peru from 2007-2019 and recently held senior management positions, including Chairman of Cosapi's Board of Directors.

Throughout his career at the BBVA Group, he has been Investment Manager at AFP Horizonte and general manager at BBVA Fondos Continenta l, among other managerial positions. In the latter part of his period, he led the digital transformation of BBVA Peru.

The new BCR manager holds a degree in Economics from the University of the Pacific, holds an MBA in Finance from KU Leuven in Belgium and has done recent studies at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and MIT-Columbia University, on digital transformation and agile methodologies.

100 YEARS OF THE BCR

The Central Reserve Bank is 100 years old. It was on March 9, 1922, when Law No. 4500 was promulgated, which created the Reserve Bank of Peru. The institution began its activities on April 4 of that year, with its first president Eulogio Romero and its first vice-president, Eulogio Fernandini.

The creation of the new entity responded to the need for a monetary system that would not cause inflation in the boom years, as happened with the repudiated fiscal notes, nor deflation such as that generated by the credit inflexibility of the gold standard, according to a report by the newspaper El Peruano.

The BCR was key at that time to the country's monetary order, by centralizing the issuance of banknotes and coins and the reserves that supported it, adjusting the money supply according to the country's economic dynamism; as well as intervening in the exchange market to stabilize it.

The first premises occupied by the then new institution was that of the Circular Checks Surveillance Board, in block 2 of the Jirón Miroquesada. At the head of the institution was a board of the highest professional level, made up of distinguished figures from the financial and commercial world.

Three were representatives of the Government and six of the banks; they would be renewed annually by thirds. A tenth member would be appointed if Peru formed a foreign tax agency. The BCR began issuing bank notes in 1922, the same year it was created. The currency unit was the Peruvian Gold Pound. The important stabilizing role of the BCR allowed us to face the most important clashes of the 1920s: the Child Phenomenon of 1925-1926 and the crash of 1929.

PRESIDENT'S ESTIMATES

The president of the Central Reserve Bank (BCR), Julio Velarde, said today that if the level of economic performance in December 2021 is maintained, Peruvian gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be 2.7% this year.

“Much of this year's growth will be due to the growth already given last year. I mean, if the December level is simply maintained, this year's GDP would grow by 2.7%,” he said in RPP.

“We grow better than the region, but Latin America has been performing very poorly in recent years,” he added.

Julio Velarde recalled that Peru had the political crisis of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's resignation, the departure of Martín Vizcarra and other economic problems, but the country more or less continued to grow, because the rules of the game were expected to be maintained.

“In the case of the pandemic, I think that in general we reacted well, and perhaps what was very strict is the confinement,” he said.

On the other hand, the economist indicated that the BCR is estimating a 0% growth in private investment for this year.

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