More than 176,000 Peruvians may leave poverty behind this year, the Lima Chamber of Commerce (CCL) announced on Wednesday.

The CCL said if Peru's gross domestic product (GDP) could grow by 4 percent in 2010, the number of poor may be reduced by 0.6 percent.

According to the CCL and World Bank, the number of Peruvians living in poverty increased by 1.6 percent, from 36.2 percent to 37.8 percent, during 2009 because of the global financial crisis.

The Peruvian government has set itself the goal of reducing poverty to 30 percent of the population by 2011, which requires an average economic growth of 9.2 percent annually during the 2010-2011 period in Peru.

Meanwhile, the National Center for Strategic Planning has set itself the goal of reducing overall poverty to 13 percent by 2021, which requires that the GDP per capita grows over 4.6 percent per year, or the equivalent of a 6 percent increase of global economic growth.

According to the World Bank's studies, poverty in Peru increased by 1.26 percent per year, while the birth rate grew by 1.47 percent annually.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2010)