Peru’s economy is expected to grow by 5.5 percent in 2012, according to a new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF’s new forecast is slightly more optimistic than the 5 percent it predicted in January of this year.

The organization also said it estimated Latin America and the Caribbean would register a growth of 3.7 percent by the end of this year, El Comercio reported.

On Monday a report by the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics said Peru’s economy grew by 7.18 percent in February - the largest gain in the past 6 months.

The IMF also issued forecasts for other countries in the region, saying Bolivia would grow by 5%; Colombia and Venezuela by 4.7%; Ecuador 4.5%; Chile; 4.3%; Mexico 3.6%; Argentina 4.2%; Uruguay 3.5%; and Brazil 3%. Paraguay, however, is expected to suffer a 1.5% decrease in its economy.

The IMF said it took international market volatility over the past 6 months into account, when revising the countries’ growth forecasts.

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