2023-07-15 19:20:15
© Reuters.
LIMA (Reuters) – Peru’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 1.43% in May compared with the same month last year, government statistics agency INEI said on Saturday, falling short of analysts’ expectations.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast the economy growing 0.50% after rising 0.31% in April, but on Friday a senior central bank official warned that growth could be negative after a difficult month for the fisheries sector. .
The country’s fisheries sector fell 70.6% in May, largely due to low yields of fish used for indirect consumption, such as fishmeal and fish oil.
The country’s main mining and hydrocarbon industry, however, increased by 16.74%, driven by a 36.1% increase in copper production. Peru is the world’s second largest producer of copper.
The contraction was a setback after two months of growth, as Peru had recovered from nationwide anti-government protests earlier this year.
The results lift Peru’s GDP growth in the 12 months through May to 1.04%.
In a statement, the INEI said that El Nino influenced the fall of segments such as agriculture (6.18%), manufacturing (15.59%) and construction (11.04%), in addition to fishing.
El Nino, a natural weather phenomenon that fuels tropical cyclones in the Pacific, brought torrential rain to some areas of the country.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino and Brendan O’Boyle)
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