Peru economy to grow 3.5%-4% in 2022, says finance minister

LIMA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Peru's finance minister Pedro Francke said on Monday he expects the Andean nation's economy to grow between 3.5% and 4%, following significant growth in 2021 that put the country's economy at above pre-pandemic levels.

Peru's economy grew 13% in 2021, according to preliminary estimates, beating forecasts made earlier in the year. In August, the finance ministry had said the country would grow 10.5% in 2021 and 4.8% in 2022.

Regarding the revisions, Francke said that while the growth estimate for 2022 has been revised down, the combined growth in 2021 and 2022 is now higher than what was presented in the last forecast.

"Because the number in 2021 is so high, the growth percentage (for 2022) comes out a little bit lower," Francke said in a press conference. "But in absolute terms...we are thinking that we are going to be two percentage points higher than our previous forecast."

The finance ministry's estimate for 2022 is still slightly higher than the one published by Peru's independent central bank, which expects the economy to surge 3.4% in the year.

Peru's statistics agency has yet to publish the official economic growth figure for 2021.

"We think that (last year's) growth will come at around 13%, probably a little bit more, we are thinking a few decimals more," Francke said. (Reporting by Marco Aquino and Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)