* Peru’s central bank (BCRP) has lowered its GDP growth forecast for 2023 from 2.2% to 0.9%, citing supply shocks, low levels of business confidence, and challenging climatic conditions that it said are likely to affect agricultural production for the rest of the year. The BCRP noted that economic activity contracted by 0.5% during the first six months of 2023 due to reduced private investment and domestic consumption. The bank predicted that growth would rise to 3.0% in 2024 due to a “partial reversal” of supply shocks, reduced inflation, and a recovery of internal demand.