PERU (Reuters) – Peru’s gross domestic product expanded 5.28% in April from a year earlier, the government’s INEI statistics agency said, the highest rate in 32 months.
The figure reversed the contraction logged in the prior month and was well above the 1.4% growth predicted by analysts polled by Reuters, also coming above government expectations of a 4% increase.
April’s expansion was supported mainly by a year-on-year increase of nearly 24% in agriculture and livestock production, and an expansion of 11.4% in the manufacturing sector, official data showed.
On the other hand, the key mining and hydrocarbons sector decreased by 4.34%, following more than a year of uninterrupted growth, due to a contraction of 4.5% in metallic mining activity.
The growth rate increase, the highest since September 2021, comes as Peru’s government boosted its public spending by 29% between January and May, the economy ministry said in a press release explaining the GDP data.
“Economic activity is expected to remain dynamic in May, mainly driven by fishing and primary manufacturing given the extraordinary anchovy capture in the north-central zone,” the document added.
On Friday, Economy Minister Jose Arista said Peru’s economy grew 4% in April and possibly in May as well, as the Andean economy seeks to emerge from a recession begun last year.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez in Mexico City and Marco Aquino in Lima; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Chizu Nomiyama)
