Peru economy expands in April, highest growth in over 30 months

By Marco Aquino and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez

(Reuters) - Peru's gross domestic product expanded 5.28% in April from a year earlier, the government's INEI statistics agency said on Saturday, the highest rate in 32 months.

The figure reversed the contraction logged in the prior month and was well above the 1.4% growth predicted by analysts polled by Reuters, also coming above government expectations of a 4% increase.

April's expansion was supported mainly by a year-on-year increase of nearly 24% in agriculture and livestock production, and an expansion of 11.4% in the manufacturing sector, official data showed.

On the other hand, the key mining and hydrocarbons sector decreased by 4.34%, following more than a year of uninterrupted growth, due to a contraction of 4.5% in metallic mining activity.

The growth rate increase, highest since September 2021, comes as Peru's government boosted its public spending by 29% between January and May, the economy ministry said in a press release explaining the GDP data.

"Economic activity is expected to remain dynamic in May, mainly driven by fishing and primary manufacturing given the extraordinary anchovy capture in the north-central zone," the document added.

On Friday, Economy Minister Jose Arista said Peru's economy grew 4% in April and possibly in May as well, as the Andean economy seeks to emerge from a recession begun last year.

(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez in Mexico City and Marco Aquino in Lima; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Chizu Nomiyama)