Economic activity in Peru registered the largest drop so far this year in May, contracting 1.43% compared to the same month of 2022, impacted by the El Niño phenomenon, the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) said.
“In May 2023, national production decreased by 1.43% due to the contractionary performance of the manufacturing, construction, financial and insurance, fishing, agriculture, and telecommunications sectors,” INEI said in its monthly technical report.
The contraction of the month was attenuated by the positive performance of sectors such as mining and trade, among others. That May figure resulted in a reduction of 0.49% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the first five months of the year compared to the same period in 2022.
Peru’s economic activity had recovered with increases in April (0.31%) and March (0.22%) after two consecutive months of declines. Peru grew 2.68% in 2022, below GDP growth expectations.
In 2021, the South American country had the highest growth rate so far this century with 13.31%, a rebound after the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The opposite happened in 2020, when a strict 107-day quarantine resulted in a historic contraction of 11.12%.
