By Marcelo Rochabrun and Marco Aquino
LIMA (Reuters) – Leftist Peruvian President Pedro Castillo named Hector Valer as his new prime minister on Tuesday, a surprise appointment of a moderate lawmaker who belongs to a bloc whose main agenda is to push for the redrafting of the country’s constitution.
Valer will replace Mirtha Vasquez, a moderate left politician who resigned due to disagreements with Castillo.
Castillo also named Oscar Graham, an economist with extensive experience in the public sector, to the key finance ministry.
Valer will be Castillo’s third prime minister in just six months in office. His appointment suggests that Castillo, a member of a Marxist-Leninist party, will move to push an initiative to redraft Peru’s market-friendly constitution, a campaign promise he had been reluctant to move on.
Investors have been weary of a constitutional change, but redrafting the constitution it has long been a goal of the Peruvian left.
“Our mission is to promote a new Constitution,” Valer told local media earlier this year when he joined the Democratic Peru Congressional bloc.
Still, Graham may provide some stability to volatile Peruvian markets.
Graham worked at Peru’s finance ministry between 2011 and 2016 and for over a decade at the central bank. He also served as vice minister in charge of small businesses during a center-right administration in 2019.
Castillo’s first two Cabinets had different political leanings.
When he was sworn in in July, Castillo named a far-left Cabinet that sent the country’s sol currency to record lows amid investor concerns.
But in October he named Vasquez, a moderate prime minister, who helped him fend off an impeachment attempt and win back some confidence from weary investors.
Peru’s currency has strengthened so far this year, but on Tuesday it fell 1%, its worst performance since late July in the early days of the Castillo administration.
(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; editing by Richard Pullin and Sandra Maler)
