The economy of Peru, the world's No.2 copper producer, may have contracted in the first quarter, though the most likely scenario is for no growth at all, the head of the Andean nation's central bank Julio Velarde said on Wednesday.
The grim outlook comes after neighboring
Chile upwardly revised its forecast for annual economic growth this year to 0.3%, reversing a previous estimate of a 0.7% contraction.
The central bank at the end of March cut its estimate for 2023 economic growth to 2.6%, from a previous view of 2.9%, as massive protests have stunted economic activity and due to the impacts of heavy rains.
"We are more so expecting growth close to zero (percent), it could even be negative, partly due to the protests that strongly affected January and also due to climatic factors that affected March," Velarde told reporters.
For 2024, the central bank projects the economy will
expand by 3.0%.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Brendan O'Boyle and
Anthony Esposito; Editing by David Alire Garcia)
