Chile: Economic activity contracts in July
Latest reading: Economic activity was down 1.5% on a year-on-year basis in July, following a 2.0% increase in the previous month. July’s reading was the weakest since March 2023.
Relative to the previous month’s data, readings in July softened for mining (-9.3% on a year-on-year basis vs +8.2% in June) and non-mining (-0.3% vs +1.2% in June).
In seasonally adjusted month-on-month terms, economic activity declined 1.7% in July, following a 0.6% rise in the prior month.
Panelist insight: On July’s reading, Goldman Sachs’ Sergio Armella said:
“Adverse weather weighed on activity in July, making the monthly data a noisy signal of the economy’s underlying strength. While the August and September figures will likely show some positive payback, our assessment remains that the economy has performed weakly so far this year.”