LIMA (Reuters) – Peru’s economy expanded 1.41% in July compared with the year before, the government said on Thursday, feeling the effects of a slowdown in the key mining sector.
The country’s economy expanded 3.44% in June.
The July result brings year-on-year growth between January and July to 3.22% in the world’s no. 2 copper producer, the national institute of statistics reported.
July’s growth rate is the slowest since Peru lifted pandemic-related restrictions last year.
Last week, Minister of Economy and Finance Kurt Burneo launched a package of measures to reactivate production in the country, which includes subsidies and tax exemptions, increased public spending and cash transfers.
Analysts says the economic slowdown compounds the political uncertainty facing leftist President Pedro Castillo in the first year of his administration.
This year, Peru’s mining sector has suffered from several protests by indigenous communities demanding greater benefits, including one that paralyzed production in the Las Bambas copper mine for almost two months.
Mining is vital to Peru’s economy because it accounts for 60% of the country’s total exports.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino and Valentine Hilaire; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
