Andean Group - July 2009 (ISSN 1741-4466)

In May, the economy returned to year-on-year growth, increasing by 0.46%. The Instituto Nacional de Estadí­stica e Informática (INEI) said that the resumption of growth, after the first year-on-year contraction for eight years in April, was due to stronger international demand for Peru's traditional exports. This means that for the first five months of 2009 the economy grew by an accumulated 0.83%. The rate for the 12 months to May 2009 was 5.65%. The best performing industrial sector was fishing, which is always highly volatile. It rose 26% year-on-year thanks to the ending of the close-season on anchovies at the end of April. Agriculture was up 8% thanks to greater acreage and decent weather. Mining and hydrocarbons rose 1.54%, amid a 21% increase in hydrocarbons output, thanks to the Camisea effect. The Camisea project started pumping gas to Lima and export markets in September 2008. Mining output was down fractionally, due to reduced production of all the base metals except copper. Gold production, however, was up by 6% and silver production was up by 5%.

Inflation: In June the consumer prices index fell by 0.34%. In May it had risen by 0.04%. In the first six months accumulated inflation was 0.3%. The annual rate in June was 3%, well down on the 6.7% recorded in calendar 2008.