The BCR stated that, in January of this current year, the leading indicators of economic activity showed mixed results, while those of expectations recorded a recovery.

The Central Reserve Bank (BCR) of Peru indicated that the local economy would return to growth during the first quarter of this year, considering a strong revival of the construction sector last January. "In the month of January, a significant recovery of the construction sector is observed, with which we would be expecting that in the first quarter of 2024 a growth is registered," said the central manager of Economic Studies of the BCR, Adrián Armas. "It would be the first quarter of growth, after four consecutive quarters of decline, as was what we had in the year 2023," he added. Adrián Armas emphasized that the Central Reserve Bank has not changed its projection that the Peruvian economy fell 0.5% during the year 2023. "The Central Bank maintains its projection of a half percentage point fall in gross domestic product (GDP) for 2023, there are no updates in that field," he said. The official GDP growth data for December of last year and for all of 2023, will be published next Thursday, February 15 by the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI). Expectations The BCR official indicated that, in January of this year, the leading indicators of economic activity showed mixed results, while those of expectations recorded a recovery. "Still, the majority of the indicators remain in the pessimistic range," he said. On the other hand, Adrián Armas maintained that the prospects for global economic activity point to moderate growth in a global context of lower inflationary pressures. "However, risks associated with international conflicts persist, with adverse effects on fuel and freight prices," he said.