Peru: Business sentiment tumbles into pessimistic territory in April
Business confidence slumped to 39.7 in April, down from March’s 51.2 and marking an eight-month low. As a result, the index fell below the 50-threshold, separating pessimism from optimism among businesses.
The downturn in firms’ expectations was broad-based in April, and likely driven by pre-election uncertainty and post-election concerns over a fragmented congress and a run-off presidential vote between two divisive candidates. As such, firms’ views regarding their sector, the labor market, future demand for their products, company investment and the company’s financial situation all fell, with all subindices dropping into pessimistic territory in the month, except for future demand expectations which remained neutral.