Regions of Peru Regions of Peru The regions () of Peru are the first-level administrative subdivisions of Peru. Since its 1821 independence, Peru had been divided into departments () but faced the problem of an increasing centralization of political and economic power in its capital, Lima. After several unsuccessful decentralization attempts, the legal figure of "region" became official and regional governments were elected to manage the departments on November 20, 2002, until their planned fusion into real regions. Under the new arrangement, the former 24 departments plus the Callao Province have become regional circumscriptions. The province of Lima has been excluded from this
Economy of Peru and political stability, but it slowed again after the government delayed privatizations and as political uncertainty increased in 2000. President Alejandro Toledo has made investment promotion a priority of his government. While Peru was previously marked by terrorism, hyperinflation, and government intervention in the economy, the Government of Peru under former President Alberto Fujimori took the steps necessary to bring those problems under control. Democratic institutions, however, and especially the judiciary, remain weak. The Government of Peru's economic stabilization and liberalization program lowered trade barriers, eliminated restrictions on capital flows, and opened the economy to foreign investment, with the result