Peru

Peru’s struggling state-owned oil company is asking the government to convert some of its loans into equity and push back deadlines to avoid running out of cash this year, Bloomberg News reported. Petroleos del Peru SA has been navigating a worsening liquidity crisis for years, tied to the construction of a brand new refinery that came in over budget and was repeatedly delayed. “We have to push back the deadlines of previous debts with the government, that’s what will help us afford operating until the end of the year,” Oliver Stark, Petroperu’s new chairman, told Bloomberg in an interview.

Chinese lenders are concerned about future investments at a $1.3 billion port in Peru set to be inaugurated this year, executives told a congressional committee, Bloomberg News reported. Peru’s government is trying to revoke a deal that granted Chinese state-owned company Cosco Shipping exclusive rights to run the new Chancay Port. While most major Peruvian ports have a single operator, Peru argues it didn’t have the legal authority to grant the new facility the same treatment.

Peru's economy should return to growth in the first three months of 2024, the central bank's chief economist Adrian Armas said in a presentation on Friday, predicting a reversal of four quarters of economic decline as inflation nears the bank's target range, Reuters reported. The monetary authority for the world's No. 2 copper producer had held its benchmark interest rate at 6.25% on Thursday, defying expectations of a 25-basis-point cut after inflation ticked up in February.

Peru's inflation rate could converge to the central bank's target sooner than expected, the head of the bank said on Wednesday, arguing that the rate of rising prices in the Andean nation is now under control, Reuters reported. "We expect it to return to the (target) range, if not in December, in the first quarter or in April next year," central bank head Julio Velarde said, hinting at an earlier-than expected easing of inflation. The central bank had previously said inflation would converge to target in April.

Peru's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 1.29% in September from the same month last year, the government's INEI statistics agency said on Wednesday, marking a fifth consecutive month of decline and landing well below analysts' expectations, Reuters reported. The figure comes after Adrian Armas, the chief economist of Peru's central bank warned last week that July to September could mark a third straight quarter of economic contraction in the Andean country, the world's second-largest copper producer.

Annual inflation in Peru decelerated to 4.34% in October to reach its lowest in over two years, according to official data published on Wednesday, far surpassing forecasts though still above the central bank's target rate, Reuters reported. Data from national statistics agency INEI showed the key index based on the metropolitan region of Lima slowed to its lowest level since July 2021, when it stood at 3.8%. On a month-to-month basis the Lima Consumer Price Index, Peru's inflation benchmark, fell 0.32%, reversing the upward path seen in September, when consumer prices were up 0.02%.

Annual inflation in Peru decelerated to 5.04% in September to hit its lowest level in more than two years, according to official figures published on Sunday, though consumer prices remained some way above the central bank's target rate, Reuters reported. Data from national statistics agency INEI showed the key index based on the metropolitan region of Lima slowed to its lowest level since August 2021, when it stood at 4.95%. On a month-to-month basis the Lima Consumer Price Index, Peru's inflation benchmark, inched up 0.02% in September, well below the 0.38% increase in August.

Peru lowered its economic growth forecasts for 2023 and 2024 on Tuesday amid poor weather, lower private investment in mining, and anti-government protests earlier this year, Reuters reported. The South American country's economy is expected to grow 1.1% this year, the economy ministry said in Peru's official gazette. That is down from a previous estimate of 2.5%, after data showed the economy shrank in the first half of 2023. That would mark the slowest annual growth since 2009, excluding coronavirus-dampened 2020.

Inflation in Peru’s capital slowed sharply in June as its economy cooled more than initially expected due to political instability, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices in Lima in June rose 6.46% from a year earlier, compared to the 6.92% median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. In May, annual inflation had reached 7.9%. Peru’s central bank uses the capital area as representative of inflation nationwide. On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell by 0.15%, according to statistics agency INEI, while economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected prices to rise 0.2%.