LIMA: Peru has once again put in place ceilings on public spending and debt after lifting them during the pandemic, the economy ministry said in a notice published in the country's official gazette on Saturday.

Starting in 2022, Peru's deficit will not be higher than 3.7% of GDP, while its public debt should not be higher than 38% of GDP, the ministry said.

The move is one of the first major economic decisions under leftist President Pedro Castillo, who won the presidency this year on a far-left platform that spooked markets, but who has said he will manage the economy responsibly.

Castillo's economy minister, moderate left-wing economist Pedro Francke, had announced the reintroduction of the fiscal caps earlier this week in an interview with Reuters.

"It is essential to re-establish fiscal rules as a sign that the country will recover its fiscal strength in the next few years," Francke said in a Twitter post on Saturday.

Peru has over the past three decades been one of Latin America's most stable economies, although that perception has weakened in the last few years due to political turmoil. Castillo is Peru's fifth president in five years.