Peruvian economy recovers in June and minister says “the worst is over”
The Peruvian economy recovered in June and grew by 2.62% year-on-year, mainly due to a strong push from the construction and fishing sector, despite a further decline in the key mining sector, the government said on Thursday.
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Reuters | Marco Aquino
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Leer en español: Economía peruana se recupera en junio y ministro dice “lo peor ya pasó”
The advance in June, almost in line with what was expected by analysts in a Reuters survey, compares with the weak growth of 0.02% in April and 0.63% in May. In June of last year, growth was 2.09% year-on-year.
The INEI statistical office said in a statement that the economy of the world's second-largest producer of copper and silver advanced 1.73% in the first six months of the year; while it expanded by 2.68% in the last twelve months to June.
Meanwhile, at a seasonally adjusted level, the local economy grew by 0.30% in June compared to May.
Hours earlier, on Wednesday afternoon, the Minister of Economy, Carlos Oliva, said in a presentation at the Congress that the country's productive activity is going through a frank recovery, leaving behind meager advances from previous months.
"The expectation for July is also looking good and it is very likely that we will exceed June," the minister said. "We have figures that give us some light that this could improve this month and it would be confirmed that the worst is over," the official added.
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INEI explained that the construction sector jumped 13.63% year-on-year in June, due to greater execution of projects in mining centers and greater physical progress of public works.
Likewise, the fishing production left five months of negative results and recorded a growth of 14.18% year-on-year in June, due to a greater capture of species destined for indirect human consumption or for industrial use, the agency said.
However, the mining and hydrocarbons sector fell 3.01% year-on-year in June, its third consecutive monthly decline, due to lower production of copper, gold, zinc and silver.
Despite the recovery, the Government is revising its growth estimate downwards for all of 2019 in a context of global uncertainty over the trade war between the United States and China. The Central Bank reduced in July its projection of economic progress for this year to 3.4%, from 4%.
