By Marco Aquino and Aida Peláez-Fernández
(Reuters) – Peru’s gross domestic product expanded 5.28% in April from a year earlier, government statistics agency INEI said on Saturday, the highest rate in 32 months.
The figure reversed the contraction recorded the previous month and was well above the 1.4% growth forecast by analysts polled by Reuters, also beating government expectations for a 4% increase.
April’s expansion was mainly supported by a nearly 24% year-on-year increase in agricultural and livestock production, and an 11.4% expansion in the manufacturing sector, official data showed.
For its part, the key mining and hydrocarbons sector decreased by 4.34%, after more than a year of uninterrupted growth, due to a 4.5% contraction in metal mining activity.
The growth rate increase, the highest since September 2021, comes as Peru’s government increased its public spending by 29% between January and May, the Ministry of Economy said in a press release explaining the data from the GDP.
“Economic activity is expected to remain dynamic in May, driven mainly by fishing and primary manufacturing given the extraordinary catch of anchovy in the north-central zone,” the document adds.
On Friday, Economy Minister José Arista said Peru’s economy grew 4% in April and possibly also in May, as the Andean economy seeks to emerge from a recession that began last year.