The credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s has forecasted a 4.5 percent rise for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Peru this year, while a growth rate ranging from 5.5 percent to 6 percent is expected in 2015.
Director of Sovereign Ratings at S&P, Richard Francis, noted that the short-term measures announced by the Ollanta Humala administration on Monday are likely to impact on the country’s key economic activities in the next six months.
The growth-boosting initiatives include providing more liquidity to construction companies to record an increase in real-estate projects nationwide as well as a plan to accelerate economy diversification to reduce dependence on the mining sector.
"The Peruvian economy will show greater dynamism in the second half of this year and, thus, it will expand by between 4 percent and 4.5 percent," the specialist at the New York-based rating agency said.
Likewise, he hailed the government’s ongoing efforts to spur the economic activity, after signs of slowdown in recent months, leading the country's Central Bank to cut its growth projection for the country’s economy to 4.4 percent from 5.5 percent.
"We believe the below-potential GDP is temporary and that the economy will see a pick up in the second half of this year, continuing next year," Francis noted.
Within this framework, he forecast that the Andean nation's economy will expand by between 5.5 percent and 6 percent in 2015, on the back of higher mining output of massive spending projects.
The Andean nation’s economy increased by 1.84 percent in May and 2.0 percent in April, while March and February posted a growth of 4.9 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively.
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Published: 7/30/2014