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Monday, November 25, 2013

Peru’s GDP Expands at Slowest Pace Since 2009 in Third Quarter

Peru’s economic growth decelerated in the third quarter as an export slump damped private investment.


Gross domestic product rose 4.4 percent from a year earlier, the statistics agency said in an e-mailed statement.

The median forecast of 13 analysts in a Bloomberg survey was for a 4.3 percent rise. GDP rose 5.6 percent in the second quarter.

Peru’s central bank cut its overnight rate Nov. 7 for the first time in four years as weak global growth curbs demand for metals that account for half of Peru’s export revenue.

Though GDP deceleration likely bottomed out in the third quarter, more rate cuts likely will be needed next year to bolster business confidence and domestic demand, said Alex Muller-Jiskra, an analyst at BTG Pactual in Santiago.

“The rate cut is going to help,” Muller-Jiskra said in a telephone interview. “Confidence is decisive for private investment, which has been underpinning growth in recent years.”

Exports fell 16 percent in September from a year earlier as copper and gold sales declined, taking this year’s drop to 9.4 percent and leaving a $932 million trade gap, the widest since 1999, according to the central bank.

Business sentiment is rebounding after the government began reducing bureaucratic delays on $27 billion of private investment and the central bank intervened to halt sol depreciation.

Fixed asset investment rose at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the three months to Sept. 30, compared with an 8.6 percent gain in the second quarter, as construction slowed and machinery imports fell, the agency said.

bloomberg.com

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