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© Reuters. A woman sells fruits at a stand at Surco market in Lima, Peru August 31, 2018. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo/File Photo
(Reuters) – Peru celebrated the end of 2023 with an inflation rate of 3.24%, the lowest annual rate in three years. Official data showed on Monday that consumer prices rose marginally in December, bringing a small boost for the country in the midst of an economic recession.
The central bank had initially projected inflation in 2023 would end at 3.8%, before adjusting its forecast to 3.1% last month following a string of promising inflationary indicators that saw a quicker-than-expected recovery.
Data from national statistics agency INEI showed the key prices index – based on the metropolitan region of Lima – rose in December by 0.41%.
The 2023 inflation rate is the lowest rise since 2020, when prices in the mining nation rose 1.97% for the year, and also stands as one of the lowest rates in Latin America.
The latest data brings Peru’s inflation within a breath of the central bank’s target range of 1% to 3%, which it had not officially forecast to reach until the end of the first quarter of 2024. At the start of 2023, consumer prices in Peru had risen 8.66% in the 12 months through January.
It comes after the central bank cut its reference interest rate to 6.75% in mid-December for the fourth consecutive month.
Nonetheless, the world’s second-largest producer is struggling with the adverse effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon, lower private investment mainly in mining and the threat of more anti-government protests.
The central bank has warned that the fight against inflation could be hampered by a stronger El Nino in 2024.
INEI said in a statement that inflation in December was driven by price hikes in restaurants and hotels (6.64%), education (6.40%) as well as food and non-alcoholic drinks (3.74%).
Analysts at BBVA (BME:) at the start of the year had predicted 2023 inflation would end above 4%.