Positive results in February confirm that Peru’s economy has bounced back from the global financial crisis, according to the head of the national statistics and information institute INEI, Renán Quispe.
Quispe said the growth of Peru’s gross domestic product by 5.92 percent in February, over the same month in 2009, shows that the country’s economy is returning to pre-financial crisis levels, state news agency Andina reported.
“It is the second month of significant growth,” said Quispe. “We can state that the negative rates from past months are now behind us, and we can see a recovery in the production industries with the exception of fishing.”
Economic growth in February was led by Peru’s construction industry, with a 16.07 percent jump due to strong growth in cement production, and the financial and insurance sector, which was up 13.45 percent.
Commerce expanded by 8.18 percent and the manufacturing sector grew by 7.19 percent. The mining and hydrocarbon industries were up 2.91 percent and agriculture by 2.02 percent, while Peru’s fishing industry saw a decrease of 15.73 percent.
The combined growth of Peru’s GDP during the first two months of 2010 was 4.76 percent, and 1.39 percent during the last twelve months from March 2009 to February 2010.
The increase in February’s GDP is the seventh consecutive month that Peru’s economy has expanded following a slowdown last June and July.
Peru’s GDP grew by about 1 percent in 2009. International and national analysts have estimated it will recover in 2010 and expand between 5 and 6 percent.
