Peru

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%.

Peru's central bank expects inflation to converge to its target in 2024, not the end of this year as previously estimated, the bank's manager for economic studies Adrian Armas said on Friday, Reuters reported. The monetary authority's inflation target is between 1% and 3%. At a press conference, Armas attributed the revised forecast to inflationary pressures on food prices. Peru's annual inflation rate slowed to 7.89% in May.

Inflation in Peru could see a "greater deceleration" in June and July after higher-than-expected inflation last month, Peru's Economy Minister Alex Contreras said on Friday, Reuters reported. Official data published on Thursday showed consumer prices in the capital of Lima - seen as the national benchmark - rose 0.32% in May, slowing from 0.56% in April but above the 0.25% forecast in a Reuters poll.

Peru's inflation rate based on the metropolitan region of the capital Lima fell to 0.32% in May, government data showed on Thursday, but the rate of creeping consumer prices still came in above the 0.25% estimated by a Reuters poll. The slight uptick for inflation in May slowed from 0.56% in April, while inflation in the last 12 months reached 7.89%. Peru's central bank, as well as many economic analysts, use the metro Lima inflation rate as an accurate reference for prices nationwide.

The economy of Peru, the world's No.2 copper producer, may have contracted in the first quarter, though the most likely scenario is for no growth at all, the head of the Andean nation's central bank Julio Velarde said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The grim outlook comes after neighboring Chile upwardly revised its forecast for annual economic growth this year to 0.3%, reversing a previous estimate of a 0.7% contraction.

Peru, the world's No. 2 copper producer, is seen posting economic growth of 2.5% this year, President Dina Boluarte said Wednesday, down from a prior forecast as the Andean nation reels from social protests and heavy rains in the country's north, Reuters reported. That would be down from the a prior government forecast in August of 3.5%. "There has been a negative impact due to the social unrest that has forced us to review growth" forecasts, Economy Minister Alex Contreras said at a cabinet meeting with Boluarte.

Peru's government expressed qualified interest in tapping the international bond market later this year in a bid to better manage liabilities, Economy Minister Alex Contreras said on Friday, Reuters reported. The government might turn to capital markets during the first semester of this year if opportunities exist, the economy chief said during a news conference. The minister also forecast what he described as a "moderate" economic expansion in March, and then 4% growth in April.

Peru's government announced on Tuesday the launch of more than 30 public-private projects worth nearly $9 billion, hoping to revive the economy hit by violent anti-government protests, Reuters reported. The projects, involving road infrastructure, energy and sanitation, are set to begin between this year and 2024, according to the head of the state's agency for investment promotion Jose Salardi, speaking at an event with investors. "The key is to regain confidence," Salardi said, adding the government is simplifying processes, standardizing contracts and coordinating with the private sector.