Central Reserve Bank (BCR) President Julio Velarde on Thursday said there are reasons to be optimistic about Peru's economy, mainly due to improved terms of trade.
"Despite the emerging pessimism, we believe the period ahead is not that bad […]. There are reasons to be optimistic," he expressed.
Corruption-related cases that have been coming to light will not affect Peruvian economy's performance. "No surprises have turned up, we just have confirmed suspicions," he added.
According to BCR's governor, even though business expectations are not as high as at the time the current administration took office, they remain optimistic.
Terms of trade
On the other hand, he said the country's terms of trade have improved significantly, which anticipates an economic upturn over the next quarters.
Such recovery will be driven not only by mining, but also consumption and services-related investment.
"Copper price went up 40%, silver's 30%, and zinc's has doubled. We understand improvement in terms of trade usually occurs two quarters before the economy picks up," Velarde underlined.
"Obviously, we need to know if prices went up fueled by the demand, but in general the overall picture is quite positive," he continued.
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