MEF: Economy would only have grown 0.5% in the first quarter

2023, to date, has been a year of great challenges for the Peruvian economy due to social conflicts and natural disasters. This scenario has changed the growth expectations for the country managed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) for the first months of this year, according to the head of said portfolio, Alex Contreras.

“At the beginning of December we expected to grow 3.5% in the first quarter. Now, as the panorama has changed, we expect 0.5%. There are three points of GDP that have been lost on average, as a result of the social conflict”, he commented in the Budget Commission of the Congress.

According to the estimates of the MEF, the cost of the protests has been dissipating in recent months. Thus, in January it was S/1,870 million, in February it fell to S/1,045 million and in March there were only losses of S/75 million.

In the case of the rains caused by Cyclone Yaku, Contreras remarked that the costs amount to S/1,321 million; however, he warned that this figure could be higher. “This amount can easily be doubled because there is still The loss of local government infrastructure needs to be recorded,” manifested.

vote will be tomorrow

Minister Contreras appeared at the Budget Committee in order to support the bill for the approval of supplementary credits for S/8,232 million for emergency care in the country due to Cyclone Yaku.

The initiative will still be put to a vote tomorrow after an intermediate room was approved to better debate the proposals and achieve consensus.

The data

Initiative. Bill of the Executive on supplementary credits comprises three axes: reactivation of the family economy, regional reactivation and sectoral reactivation. It was presented on March 14.