Peru's economy cools as growth tally hits 6 years

Aug 15, 2007 - Peru's economy expanded 6.65 percent in June from the same month a year ago, as it tallied 72 consecutive months of growth, the national statistics agency said on Wednesday.

Production in June was lower than expected as output dropped at mines and fisheries and commerce was tepid.

The median forecast in a Reuters poll of nine analysts was for a 7.5 percent rise in gross domestic product in June.

In May, the economy grew a revised 8.43 percent from a year earlier against a previously reported 8.33 percent.

Officials said the cooling off in June from the prior month would be temporary.

"We expect the situation to return to its normal rhythm," Renan Quispe, head of the statistics agency INEI, told reporters.

The construction sector expanded the fastest in June, growing 22.23 percent.

But production in the mining and petroleum sector, which has been hurt by drops in gold output, fell 4.16 percent.

Fisheries output fell 12.25 percent while commerce grew 3.63 percent, at about half the pace of recent months.

In the first half of the year, the economy grew 7.78 percent from the same period a year ago.

For six years the Andean nation's economy has grown, outpacing many of its Latin American peers. It has been helped by strong exports, especially of minerals, a construction boom and manufacturing activity.

The economy grew 8.03 percent in 2006, the fastest pace in 11 years.

UNEMPLOYMENT

The statistics agency also released unemployment data on Wednesday, saying the May-to-July jobless rate in metropolitan Lima was 7.9 percent, down from 8.5 percent in the same period a year earlier.

Lima accounts for a third of Peru's overall population.