LIMA: Peru's economy grew at a weaker-than-expected 1.68 percent in January from a year earlier, state statistics agency Inei confirmed on Monday, with a rebound in the mining sector offsetting a drop in construction.
The president of Peru's central bank had told Reuters on Friday that January growth would be 1.7 percent. Analysts had expected gross domestic product to rise 2.1 percent on the year in January, according to a Reuters poll.
From December, the economy expanded at a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent, Inei said.
Growth in January was led by a 5.6 percent year-on-year expansion in the mining and hydrocarbon sector, the fastest pace in 10 months, Inei said. Construction activity contracted 2.98 percent, dragged down by delays in public works projects by local governments, which are in transition following elections last year.
Manufacturing contracted 5.54 percent as fishmeal factories continued to struggle with a lack of anchovy. The economy grew by 2.15 percent in the 12 months through January from the same period a year earlier, Inei said.
Growth in Peru's mining-fueled economy slowed sharply from the rates of recent years last year, expanding by 2.35 percent as global mineral prices fell and gold output dropped.
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