El Peru podria subir sus intereses a 2% para combatir la inflacion.
El crecimiento de la economia del pais de $129 billones es muy fuerte..
Peru May Raise Rate for Third Month to 2% as Growth Stirs Inflation Threat
By John Quigley - Jul 8, 2010
Peru’s central bank may raise its benchmark lending rate today for a third straight month to prevent faster-than-forecast economic recovery from stirring inflationary pressures.
The seven-member board, led by President Julio Velarde, will probably increase its reference rate by a quarter point to 2 percent from 1.75 percent, according to all 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The board will announce its decision after 6 p.m. New York time.
Policy makers raised the benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point at the past two meetings and have increased banks’ reserve requirements as the economy returns to pre-crisis growth rates. After the slowest expansion since 2001 last year, increased company spending and rising inflows have helped push South America’s sixth-biggest economy to its fastest growth since 2008.
“The pace of economic activity is very strong,” said Hugo Perea, chief economist at BBVA Banco Continental, in a phone interview from Lima. “The bank can’t wait for demand pressures to start fueling inflation -- it has to act in a forward-looking manner.”
Peru was the second Latin American country after Brazil to raise borrowing costs in 2010 as a recovery in private investment spurs domestic demand. Chile increased its lending rate by 0.5 point in June from a record low as economic growth accelerates at the fastest pace in five years.
Peru’s $129 billion economy is in a “sweet spot” as it rebounds amid tame inflation, Velarde said June 18.
‘Major Growth’
The bank in June raised its 2010 growth forecast to 6.6 percent, up from 5.5 percent. Annual inflation may accelerate to 2 percent to 2.5 percent by year-end, the lowest rate among Latin America’s major economies, according to the bank.
Peru’s economy expanded 9.3 percent in April, higher than the 8.8 percent median forecast of nine economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Economic indicators for May suggest growth held near 9 percent as a result of the low comparative base, Perea said. Gross domestic product shrank 1.2 percent in the second quarter of 2009 from a year earlier, its first quarterly reduction in eight years.
Domestic cement consumption, the principal indicator of construction output, jumped 19 percent in May, the national statistics office said. Electricity output rose 7.8 percent and agriculture expanded 3.2 percent. Mortgage loans climbed 16 percent.
“Peru has seen impressive growth in domestic tourism, which helped compensate for the decline in foreign tourists earlier this year,” Juan Stoessel, managing director of Casa Andina, the country’s largest hotel chain, said in an interview in Lima. “This is clearly because the economy is seeing major growth.”
Foreign Demand
Surging output has led to a rise in foreign demand for Peru’s sol and government bonds. The central bank resumed dollar purchases in the foreign exchange market last month after a two- month pause as the sol rose to a 22-month high.
The currency has strengthened 2.3 percent this year, the fifth-best performance among 26 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The central bank bought $3.2 billion in the first half of this year, which helped lift net foreign currency reserves to $35.3 billion, a two-year high.
The yield on Peru’s benchmark 8.6 percent sol-denominated bond due August 2017 has fallen 30 basis points, or 0.30 percentage point, to 5.75 percent in the last month, according to Citigroup Inc.’s local unit.
To curb volatility in the local currency, the central bank increased reserve requirements this month for foreign currency accounts and borrowings abroad maturing in less than two years.
Winding Down Stimulus
Banks must also hold reserves of at least 7 percent of their lending portfolios in their own vaults, up from 6 percent. The central bank last raised reserve requirements in July 2008.
Adjusting the reserve mandate has a greater impact than the reference rate on the riskiest forms of credit, such as consumer loans, according to the central bank.
Still, company and household loans climbed 15 percent in the first half of June from a year earlier, the central bank said.
The reserve adjustment is equivalent to an increase of half a percentage point in the reference rate, Scotiabank Peru analyst Mario Guerrero wrote in a July 5 report. The measure makes it less likely the central bank will raise the rate by more than 25 basis points at today’s meeting, he said.
Annual inflation accelerated to 1.64 percent in June, the fastest pace since August 2009, on higher food costs. Consumer prices climbed 0.25 percent from May.
The central bank will withdraw monetary stimulus at a pace determined by economic data “in the coming months,” Velarde said June 18.
Peru’s imports jumped 41 percent to $2.2 billion in May, led by industrial equipment and vehicles, exporter group Comexperu said. Exports rose 8 percent to $2.3 billion.
To contact the reporter on this story: John Quigley in Lima at
jquigley8@bloomberg.net