Peru: Economic activity picks up in July
Economic activity expanded 2.3% year-on-year in July, above June’s 2.0% increase but still well below April’s annual growth rate of 7.8%, which was a five-year high. National production in the January–July period, meanwhile, rose by 4.3% from the same period in 2017.
An acceleration in export expansion and resilient domestic demand drove growth in July. The acceleration in exports growth benefited from stronger sales of traditional products, including: sugar, cotton, iron, zinc and gold. On the domestic demand side, retail sales expanded at a decent albeit decelerating pace, while consumer credit growth gathered steam.
In terms of productive sectors, almost all sectors continued to expand. In particular, the trade, telecommunications, and agricultural sectors continued to expand solidly. Moreover, accelerations were recorded in the transport and construction sectors. However, both the mining and hydrocarbons, and fishing sectors continued to contract.
Meanwhile, annual average variation in economic activity came in at 3.3% in July, marginally up from June’s 3.2%.