August GDP grew 11.83%, driven by restaurants

In the eighth month of the year, the national economy reported an advance of 11.83%, compared to the same period in 2020, year in which the economy contracted by 11.12%.

In the January-August period, national production increased by 18.59% and During the last twelve months, September 2020-August 2021, it presented an increase of 10.46%. Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted index of national production for August 2021 registered a variation of 1.50%, compared to the immediately previous month (July).

In this regard, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) highlighted that the data for August are in line with the growth projection of 10.5% projected for 2021, the highest rate among the countries in the region.

Likewise, he stressed that these results occur in a context of fewer infections and hospitalizations due to coronavirus and because of the advances in the vaccination process, which allows economic activities to continue to recover and return to normal levels of operation.

“The August result reflects the strength of the Peruvian economy and we estimate that in September the economy will continue to grow at a good pace, as anticipated by the leading indicators of economic activity. The recovery of confidence, advances in vaccination and solid external fundamentals will be key for the economy to continue recovering, ”said Pedro Francke, head of the MEF.

Restaurants, the new rebirth

With the exception of the fishing sector (-29.93%), in August the rest of the economic activities had a positive evolution, especially the accommodation and restaurants sector, which registered an increase of 96.48%.

The group of restaurants, in the month of analysis, was driven by the greater demand in the activities of poultry, restaurants, fast food, chifas, coffee restaurants, cevicherías, meats and grills and tourist restaurants, due to the extension of the opening hours, less restriction of capacity, opening of branches, commercial alliances, promotions and discounts.

The beverage service grew driven by the businesses of bars, restaurants, cafeterias and toy stores, due to the opening of stores, extended hours, promotions in snacks and the greater coverage of home delivery.

Meanwhile, the accommodation subsector advanced 2,277.27%, which had a positive impact with 1.22 percentage points in the total. So far this year, this subsector registers a negative rate of -71.60%.

IMF: Peru, among the strongest economies

This week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that Peru’s GDP will grow by 10% this year and 4.6% by 2022.

Thus, according to the multilateral, Peru will remain one of the strongest economies in South America, whose average growth is 2.3%.

The word

Pedro Francke, Minister of Economy

“The August result reflects the strength of the Peruvian economy and we estimate that in September the economy will continue to grow at a good pace, as anticipated by leading indicators.”