The appointment of a fiscally orthodox technocrat as Peru's finance minister was welcomed yesterday both in Lima and internationally.

With the choice of Luis Carranza, president-elect Alan García is hoping to plot continuity with the current administration, under which Peru has registered impressive economic growth. The country's gross domestic product expanded by 6.7 per cent in 2005 compared with the previous year and is forecast to grow between 5.5 and 6 per cent this year.