MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peruvian president García in an opinion poll upturn

The promotion of private investment and an improved image of Peru abroad boosted President Alan Garcia's approval rating to 32% this month, pollster Ipsos-Apoyo said in a national survey published Sunday in the newspaper El Comercio.

"The polls have shown over time that the main reasons a sector of the population approves of president Garcia has been his attitude toward promoting private investment and his responsible macroeconomic management," wrote Alfredo Torres, chief of the pollster. Peru's economy expanded a higher-than-expected 9.84% last year, the government statistics agency said early last week. Torres added that more public spending also helped bolster Garcia's approval rating. President Garcia, who entered office in July 2006, had the strongest support in the capital region, with a 39% approval rating in Lima, said the poll of 1,000 persons taken from February 18 to 20. Garcia's approval rating was as high as 44% in September of 2007 and as low as 19% in November last year, the pollster said. Garcia can't run again in the 2011 general elections due to term limits. The poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.