Andean Region, Business, Politics

UN: Peru’s Economy to Have Grown by 7 Percent in 2011

Peru’s gross domestic product is expected to grow by 7 percent in 2011, making it one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America and the Caribbean this year, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

In a report, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Eclac, said the region is expected to grow by 4.3 percent in 2011, compared to 5.9 percent last year.

“The countries with the greatest growth this year —2011— will be Panama (10.5%), Argentina (9.0%), Ecuador (8.0%), Peru (7.0%) and Chile (6.3%),” Eclac said.

Eclac’s forecast for Peru is similar to the projection made by Peru’s government, which expects the economy to expand by 6.8 percent this year.

In 2012, Eclac said that regional growth —Latin America and the Caribbean— is seen dropping to 3.7 percent as a result of a deterioration in the outlook for the global economy.

“Eclac projects that growth over the next year in Latin America and the Caribbean will be led by Haiti (8.0%), followed by Panama (6.5%), Peru (5.0%), Ecuador (5.0%) and Argentina (4.8%),” the report said.

The commission said that Latin America has “a number of strengths” to face a global economic crisis, such as a high level of reserves.

“However, in many countries there are fewer arenas for anti-crisis policies than before the 2008-2009 crisis. Therefore, the measures available are less powerful than at that time. In face of a possible deteriorating global economic situation there would be less capacity to coordinate action among the main economies,” Eclac said.

The institution added that the main challenge for Latin American policy makers is being prepared for a possible crisis, “taking into account the possibility of sudden changes in the external situation and the delay in the impact of macroeconomic policies.”

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