In this page: Economic Indicators | Foreign Trade in Figures | Sources of General Economic Information | Political Outline
In the context of robust economic growth spanning the past 25 years, Peru has encountered numerous setbacks in recent years. After contracting by 0.6% in 2023, the economy rebounded in 2024, with inflation staying well within the target range. Growth picked up to 3.3%, driven by a strong recovery in primary sectors, increased private consumption, and robust public investment. Growth is expected to slow in 2025 due to global policy uncertainty and pre-election tensions. Real GDP growth is forecasted at 2.9%, supported by continued private consumption growth, while public investment slows. Despite high metal prices, pre-election tensions are likely to hinder the recovery of private investment. Following this, growth is expected to stabilize around its potential rate of approximately 2.5% (data IMF).
In 2024, the external current account surplus improved further to 2.2% of GDP, supported by strong terms of trade. However, the fiscal deficit rose to 3.5% of GDP, exceeding the revised fiscal rule target of 2.8% due to lower tax collection and higher public investment. International reserves remained at a comfortable level of around 27% of GDP. The recent revision of the fiscal rule raised the fiscal deficit ceiling to 2.2% of GDP in 2025 and to 1.8% of GDP in 2026, up from 1.5% and 1.0%, respectively. The medium-term baseline scenario incorporates this new consolidation path, slightly exceeding the ceiling. Income tax regularization in 2025, bolstered by higher commodity prices in 2024, and a conservative growth projection in the 2025 budget, will contribute to this consolidation. Public debt – at 34.2% in 2024, from 33% one year earlier - is expected to remain on a stable trajectory in the coming years. Official government data pointed to a reduction in inflation to 1.9% last year amid lower energy prices. Inflation expectations for the next 12 months remain within the Central Bank’s target range of 2% ±1%.
Although the unemployment rate in Peru doubled during the early stages of the pandemic, unemployment has been decreasing since then. According to the INEI, Peru’s employed population surpassed 17.3 million in 2024, up 0.8% from the previous year, while the unemployment rate reached 5.6%, with higher unemployment among women (6.6%) than men (4.7%), as well as among young people aged 14–24 (11.5%) and those with university education (7.2%). However, the informal economy continues to employ a large part of the active population (more than 70% as per the World Bank). Moreover, the country has high levels of inequality, with a significant concentration of wealth, and a poverty rate of 32.2% (upper-middle-income poverty rate of USD 6.85/day - World Bank). There are serious regional disparities in poverty throughout the country, with the highest numbers being in the Andean and Amazonian regions.
Main Indicators | 2023 (E) | 2024 (E) | 2025 (E) | 2026 (E) | 2027 (E) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GDP (billions USD) | 266.91 | 283.31 | 294.90 | 306.47 | 318.95 |
GDP (Constant Prices, Annual % Change) | -0.6 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.3 |
GDP per Capita (USD) | 7,913 | 8,316 | 8,570 | 8,819 | 9,087 |
General Government Balance (in % of GDP) | -2.5 | -3.7 | -2.5 | -2.2 | -1.7 |
General Government Gross Debt (in % of GDP) | 33.0 | 34.2 | 35.3 | 35.7 | 35.7 |
Inflation Rate (%) | 6.3 | 2.5 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
Unemployment Rate (% of the Labour Force) | 6.8 | 6.8 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
Current Account (billions USD) | 2.22 | 0.78 | -0.17 | -1.99 | -2.93 |
Current Account (in % of GDP) | 0.8 | 0.3 | -0.1 | -0.6 | -0.9 |
Source: IMF – World Economic Outlook Database , Latest available data
Note: (e) Estimated Data
Peru’s varied geography is reflected in the country’s economy. The abundance of resources is found mainly in mineral deposits in the mountainous regions, while its extensive maritime territory has traditionally yielded excellent fishing resources. However, due to its complicated geographical features (such as the arid coast, the rugged Andes and the hard-to-reach jungle), Peru has a rather small agricultural area, which occupies only 20% of the territory. Still, the sector is fairly significant compared to the size of the country's arable land. Agriculture contributes to 7.2% of Peru's GDP and employs 24% of the active population. The country’s main agricultural products are cotton, sugarcane, coffee, wheat, rice, maize, quinoa, and barley. Peru is also one of the world's leading exporters of artichokes, mangoes, citrus, avocado, and grapes. After experiencing its first contraction in several years in 2023, agricultural and livestock production in Peru grew by 4.9% year-on-year in 2024, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (Midagri). This increase was driven by strong performance in the agricultural sector, which expanded by 6.8%, and the livestock sector, which rose by 1.8%.
The industry sector generates 33.9% of the GDP, employing 16.4% of the active population. Peru has a large and dynamic mining industry, mainly for copper and gold extraction. The country has been a mining economy since colonial times and is the world's second-largest producer of copper and silver, the seventh-largest producer of gold, and the second-largest producer of zinc. Additionally, the country is the third-largest producer of lead. Large mining has begun in the past years, which increased even more the importance of the mining sector. The country also has large reserves of natural gas and oil, although Peru is a net energy importer. The main manufacturing activities are textiles, consumer goods, food processing and fish products. Peru's industrial sector grew by 3.9% in 2024, partially recovering from the 6.6% decline recorded in 2023. This growth contributed 0.44 percentage points to the country's economic expansion, making it the leading sector driving national GDP in the past year, according to the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (IEES).
The tertiary sector contributes 51.3% of the GDP and employs 59.7% of the workforce. The sector’s pillars are tourism, financial services and telecommunication, all of which have boomed due to a combined effort from both the government and private sector. Figures from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) show that inbound tourism in Peru grew by 29% in 2024 compared to the previous year, adding 732,000 more visitors. This figure also reflects a strong recovery, reaching 74.5% of pre-pandemic tourism levels recorded in 2019. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI), in 2024, business services grew by 3.6%, public administration and defence by 3.9%, other services by 3.6%, and other product taxes and import duties by 3.5%.
Breakdown of Economic Activity By Sector | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
---|---|---|---|
Employment By Sector (in % of Total Employment) | 24.0 | 16.4 | 59.7 |
Value Added (in % of GDP) | 7.2 | 33.9 | 51.3 |
Value Added (Annual % Change) | -3.9 | -1.3 | 0.6 |
Source: World Bank - Latest available data.
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Monetary Indicators | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Peruvian Nuevo Sol (PEN) - Average Annual Exchange Rate For 1 MUR | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.09 |
Source: World Bank - Latest available data.
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The Economic freedom index measure ten components of economic freedom, grouped into four broad categories or pillars of economic freedom: Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption); Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending); Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labour freedom, monetary freedom); and Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom). Each of the freedoms within these four broad categories is individually scored on a scale of 0 to 100. A country’s overall economic freedom score is a simple average of its scores on the 10 individual freedoms.
Economic freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Index of Economic Freedom, Heritage Foundation
The business rankings model measures the quality or attractiveness of the business environment in the 82 countries covered by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Country Forecast reports. It examines ten separate criteria or categories, covering the political environment, the macroeconomic environment, market opportunities, policy towards free enterprise and competition, policy towards foreign investment, foreign trade and exchange controls, taxes, financing, the labour market and infrastructure.
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit - Business Environment Rankings 2020-2024
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Peru is a member of the WTO and very open to international trade, which represents 51% of GDP. The country mainly exports copper ores and concentrates (37.5% of total exports in 2023), gold (13.5%), petroleum gas (3.5%), zinc (3.4%), grapes (2.7%), and blueberries (2.6); while its main imports are fuels (17.6%), machinery and equipment (15.5%), transport vehicles (7.4%), cars (3.6%), and poultry (3.5%). In 2023, 45,863 companies were directly involved in the foreign trade of goods and the number of exporters reached a record high, at 9,331 (Mincetur).
In 2023, the country's main export partners were China (36% of the total), the USA (14%), the EU (11%), Canada (5%), and India (4%). The Asian continent accounted for more than half of the export value (51%), followed by America with 33% and Europe with 15%. On the other hand, imports came chiefly from China (25.9%), the United States (21%), the EU (8.9%), Brazil (7.1%), Argentina (5%), Canada (2.3%), and Mexico (3.4% - data Mincetur). Nearly 90% of Peru's exports are covered by Free Trade Agreements currently in force, which enables Peruvian products to enter, subject to the rules of origin of each trade agreement, under preferential conditions to 53 countries, including Canada, Chile, China, the member countries of the European Union, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United States, among others. The country is seeking to position itself as a regional hub for trade between Latin America and the APEC countries (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation).
Peru has a structurally positive trade balance. In 2023, exports of goods contracted to USD 60.7 billion (-3.4% y-o-y), but imports decreased at a faster pace (-14.2% y-o-y) and stood at USD 52.3 billion. According to the WTO, imports of services in 2023 totalled USD 13.5 billion, while exports stood at USD 5.7 billion. In the same year, the overall trade balance was positive by 3.3% of GDP (from 0.6% one year earlier – data World Bank). According to preliminary figures from the Central Bank, in 2024, Peru achieved a trade surplus of USD 23.82 billion, surpassing the USD 17.67 billion recorded in 2023 and reaching a figure 3.5 times higher than the pre-pandemic level of USD 6.87 billion in 2019. The country's exports grew by 12.4% compared to 2023, totalling USD 75.91 billion. Meanwhile, imports reached USD 52.09 billion, marking a 4.5% increase from the previous year.
Foreign Trade Indicators | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Imports of Goods (million USD) | 42,284 | 36,140 | 50,891 | 60,979 | 52,306 |
Exports of Goods (million USD) | 46,444 | 39,600 | 59,648 | 62,911 | 60,756 |
Imports of Services (million USD) | 10,680 | 7,579 | 10,718 | 13,604 | 13,528 |
Exports of Services (million USD) | 6,696 | 2,718 | 2,947 | 4,962 | 5,731 |
Imports of Goods and Services (Annual % Change) | 1.7 | -15.5 | 25.6 | 4.0 | -1.8 |
Exports of Goods and Services (Annual % Change) | 0.3 | -16.0 | 14.4 | 4.5 | 5.1 |
Imports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP) | 22.9 | 21.2 | 26.1 | 28.3 | 23.8 |
Exports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP) | 24.0 | 23.0 | 29.1 | 28.9 | 27.1 |
Trade Balance (million USD) | 6,879 | 8,102 | 15,115 | 10,166 | 17,678 |
Trade Balance (Including Service) (million USD) | 2,983 | 3,221 | 7,552 | 1,689 | 10,337 |
Foreign Trade (in % of GDP) | 46.9 | 44.2 | 55.3 | 57.3 | 50.9 |
Source: WTO – World Trade Organisation ; World Bank , Latest Available Data
Main Customers (% of Exports) |
2022 |
---|---|
China | 30.1% |
United States | 14.5% |
Japan | 4.9% |
Canada | 4.5% |
South Korea | 4.5% |
See More Countries | 41.6% |
Main Suppliers (% of Imports) |
2022 |
---|---|
China | 26.1% |
United States | 23.7% |
Brazil | 7.0% |
Argentina | 5.0% |
Mexico | 3.3% |
See More Countries | 34.8% |
Source: Comtrade, Latest Available Data
Source: Comtrade, Latest Available Data
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5.0 bn USD of services exported in 2022 | |
---|---|
43.07% | |
Personal travelPersonal travel | 43.07% |
OtherOther | 24.97% |
31.96% | |
12.92% | |
3.61% | |
2.48% | |
2.46% | |
2.44% | |
0.80% | |
0.26% |
13.6 bn USD of services imported in 2022 | |
---|---|
46.39% | |
17.24% | |
Personal travelPersonal travel | 17.24% |
OtherOther | 36.37% |
13.51% | |
7.82% | |
6.71% | |
3.84% | |
2.85% | |
1.42% | |
0.22% |
Source: United Nations Statistics Division, Latest Available Data
- Popular Force (FP): right-wing, fujimorism, conservatism, right-wing populism
- Free Peru (PL): left-wing to far-left, socialism, Marxism
- Popular Renewal (RP): right-wing to far-right, social conservatism, economic liberalism, anti-immigration
- Popular Action (AP): centre to centre-right, reformism, nationalism, paternalistic conservatism
- Alliance for Progress (APP): centre-right, conservative liberalism, progressivism, populism
- Go on Country – Social Integration Party (AvP): centre-right to right-wing, liberal conservatism, economic liberalism
- Together for Peru (JP): centre-left to left-wing, democratic socialism, progressivism
- Magisterial Bloc of National Concertation (BMCN): left-wing, it brings together several dissident legislators from Peru Libre
- Podemos Peru (PP): centre-right to right-wing, social conservatism, populism, protectionism
- Advance Country – Social Integration Party: right-wing to far-right
- We Are Peru (SP): centre-right, social conservatism, Christian democracy, Christian humanism.
The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).
The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.
Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House
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Latest Update: May 2025