LIMA, Mar 16 (Reuters) – Peru’s economy grew 2.98% in January, higher than expected by the market, supported by an increase in public investment, the government said on Monday, without the impact of the coronavirus. which would be reflected after February according to analysts.
The figure compares with the growth of 1.12% in December and the expansion of 1.74% in January of last year. Analysts had estimated growth of 2.4% in the first month of the year, according to a Reuters poll.
The state-run National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) said in a statement that the local economy grew 2.26% in the last twelve months until January.
Meanwhile, at a seasonally adjusted level, the Peruvian economy posted an increase of 0.09% in January compared to December.
In January, the construction sector grew 5.21% year-on-year, due to a greater physical advance in public works that increased by 86.30%, the agency said. Meanwhile, mining and hydrocarbons grew 3.53% yoy due to higher production of zinc, iron, silver, molybdenum, lead and tin, he said.
Peru is the world’s second largest copper and zinc producer and the sixth gold producer. Mining is responsible for 60% of the total exports of the South American country.
Peru’s economy grew 2.16% percent in 2019, its worst annual performance in a decade, affected by a sharp drop in the fishing industry and lower mining production.
On Thursday, the central bank of Peru kept its interest rate at 2.25 percent and said it is watching for new information on inflation and its determinants to expand the monetary stimulus “when appropriate.”
(Report by Marco Aquino)
Corresponsal de Argentina, Encargado de seleccionar las noticias más relevantes de su interés a nuestro sitio web NewsPer.com
