raised Peru's economic growth projection for the current year from 3% to 3.2%.
"We have adjusted the growth projection for 2025 to 3.2%," BCR Governor Julio Velarde said during the presentation of the latest Inflation Report on Friday.
"For next year, we maintain the growth estimate we issued last December (2.9%)," he added.
The BCR head presented GDP growth projections for the primary sector at 2.6% and for the non-primary sector at 3.3%, both for 2025.
"The primary sector is slightly lower, both for fishing and mining. Fishing, because the weather will be slightly cooler, making the first season somewhat weaker, and mining mainly because our estimated gold production is lower," Velarde explained.
"If we look at the non-primary sector, we estimate 3.3% growth, compared to the 3% we previously expected, with growth in sectors such as Construction (3.8%) and Manufacturing (3%)," he added.
The BCR President stated that it is not impossible for national GDP to grow by around 4%, but there are several aspects that need to be addressed.
"I still believe that over this century, we have averaged 4.1% growth, with very weak expansion over the last 10 years. In other words, we can grow more, but there is a lot to be done," Velarde stated.
"In the short term, our estimated growth is closer to 3%, but there is a large margin of error, which is why 4% is feasible, it's not impossible. If we achieve 4% growth this year, there would be greater growth momentum," he added.
Similarly, the BCR governor highlighted that business expectations regarding the economy and their respective sectors are in the optimistic range.
"If we look at business surveys, they are not overly optimistic, but we have returned to levels close to those at the start of 2021. It can be seen that they are in positive territory," he noted.
On another note, Velarde stated that the global economic growth projection remains at 3% for this year, while the 2026 forecast has been revised downward from 3.1% to 3%.
"The escalation of trade tensions and the persistence of high inflation introduce a downward bias in the current projection," he remarked.
(END) CNA/JJN/JMP/MVB