The peruvian economy grew 3.8% in December, above the advance of the previous month (November: 1.5%). With this result, the GDP accumulated an annual growth of 3.4% in 2025, slightly lower than the previous year (2024: 3.6%). Meanwhile, total employment at the national level grew 1.5% in 2025, a creation of more than 252 thousand jobs; while revenue increased at its fastest pace since 2009.
In December, the growth of the economy was explained by a greater pace in the primary (2.0%) and non-primary (4.3%) sectors. In the primary sector, greater agricultural production (2.5%) was combined with lower mining extraction (-1.9%) of gold and copper.
Meanwhile, in the non-primary sector, the construction sector expanded (12.0%) due to greater domestic consumption of cement, as well as consumer sectors such as commerce (4.9%) and services (3.2%) in a context of moderate inflation and sustained dynamism in formal contracting.
With this, the economy expanded 3.4% in 2025. This result is slightly lower than the previous year (2024: 3.6%) and much lower than the pace recorded in the pre-pandemic decade (4.5%). Furthermore, the 3.5% growth goal announced by the MEF at the beginning of 2025 and ratified in the Multiannual Macroeconomic Framework of August was not met.
Revenue at its highest pace
In 2025, the average income of workers nationwide increased 5.3% in real terms, that is, adjusting for the effect of inflation. This is the highest rate of income growth since 2009, according to figures from the National Household Survey (ENAHO).
Thus, for the first time in six years, income exceeded its pre-pandemic level, being just 1.1% above what was recorded in 2019, according to IPE estimates. The dynamism of income would have boosted private consumption throughout the year and would contribute to a fall in poverty in 2025.
Along these lines, 9 out of 10 of the main economists surveyed by the IPE agree on a reduction in poverty and around 70% expect it to be up to 2 percentage points.
Likewise, employment at the national level grew 1.5% in 2025, above the rate observed in 2024 (0.8%), which is equivalent to the creation of more than 252 thousand jobs, according to the Permanent National Employment Survey (EPEN).
The advance was driven mainly by primary activities (2.5%) that added close to 103 thousand jobs generated, which is largely explained by the greater dynamism of agriculture. In addition, the increase in workers in sectors linked to consumption (125 thousand additional positions), driven by services (82 thousand positions) and commerce (43 thousand positions) contributed; while sectors linked to investment contributed to a lesser extent (23 thousand positions).
For its part, youth employment (14 to 24 years old) decreased 2.1% in 2025, its fourth consecutive year of decline. With this, the IPE estimates that there are around 370 thousand fewer young people working than before the pandemic, that is, a drop of 13% compared to 2019. Meanwhile, in the group of 25 to 44 years old there are approximately 233 thousand additional jobs, while in the group of 45 and over it is estimated around one million more jobs than before the pandemic.
Perspectives 2026
According to the IPE, advanced activity indicators still show high dynamism at the beginning of 2026. According to figures from the System Economic Operation Committee (COES), electricity demand grew 4.4% in January, above the rate of December 2025 (2.6%).
The higher pace was associated with a recovery in electricity demand from sectors linked to investment (3.0% compared to -4.9% in December), which includes cement and steel companies; and households and small businesses (5.0% compared to 3.6% in December).
Likewise, private consumption would continue at a high pace towards the first month of the year: the BBVA Consumer Big Data index grew 18.3% in January, similar to the increase in December 2025 (19.3%).
According to IPE projections for December 2025, the Peruvian economy would grow around 2.7% in 2026, a slowdown explained by the uncertainty associated with the electoral process.
This context would mainly affect private investment (from a growth of 11.3% in 2025 to 3.2% in 2026), given that some companies would postpone their investment decisions until a time of greater clarity regarding the positions of the new elected government and the composition of the next Congress.
The IPE will present the update of its macroeconomic projections in March 2026, as it has been doing every quarter.
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