Peru's Mining Sector Tax Collections Fall 40% So Far This Year
September 10 2013 - Wall Street Journal

By Robert Kozak


LIMA, Peru--Peru's central government tax collections from the mining industry have fallen sharply so far this year, posting a 39.7% decline in the January-to-August period, the government said.

Tax agency Sunat said Tuesday that mining sector tax collections made up only 9.5% of the total tax haul so far this year, compared with 14.7% in all of 2012 and 17.5% in all of 2011.

"The trend toward a contraction in the level of domestic tax collections tied to export markets continues," the agency said.

Taxes from the fishing sector, which exports much of its products, fell 28% in the first eight months of the year, while hydrocarbon sector taxes declined 7.3% in the same time period.

Many of Peru's mining sector exports, such as copper and gold, have suffered from declining international prices.

The agency said that the weaker revenues from export products have been offset by taxes tied to Peru's booming domestic demand.

In August, tax and customs revenues rose a real 6.6% to 7.2 billion soles ($2.6 billion), compared with the same month a year earlier.

Peru is one of the world's largest producers of gold, copper, zinc, silver, tin and other minerals.

Write to Robert Kozak at robert.kozak@wsj.com