Economy & Business - August 2022

PERU | Interest rate hike. Peru’s central bank (BCRP) raised the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 6% on 7 July – its 13th consecutive hike since July 2021. In a statement, BCRP cited the fact that annual inflation was running at 8.81% in June, up from 8.09% in May, an increase that it attributed to global factors such as “international conflicts” – an allusion to the war in Ukraine. In a statement, the BCRP said that it expects annual inflation to begin falling from this month, but the annual rate is not expected to fall within the target range of 1-3% until Q2 or Q3 2023.