- Chile’s monthly economic activity index Imacec dropped by 0.4% in December 2020 compared to the same month of 2019;
- As a result, the country’s economy ended 2020 with a 6% preliminary drop, an unseen figure since Chile’s crisis in the early 1980s;
- Month over month, however, the economy showed a 3.5% growth in December compared to November.
With sanitary restrictions in the last month of the year and its impact mainly on the services sector, Chile‘s monthly economic activity index, Imacec, dropped by 0.4% in December 2020 compared to the same month of the previous year, informed on Monday the Central Bank of Chile, as reported by local news outlet Diario Financiero.
As a result, the country’s economy reached the end of 2020 with a 6% preliminary drop, an unseen figure since Chile’s crisis in the early 1980s.
Month over month, however, the economy showed a 3.5% growth in December compared to November as economic activity resumed the monthly growth it had shown from June to October when it dropped by 0.5%.
December’s result according to the Central Bank was driven by the losses in services and mining, in spite of trade’s dynamism.
Trade grew 10.8% driven mostly by retail sales and, to a lesser extent, by wholesalers. Compared to November, the sector saw a slight 0.3% upward.
Services sank 2.1% pushed by transportation, cultural, leisure activities, restaurants and hotels. All of them, according to the Central Bank report, were hit by the Covid-19 effects on people’s mobility and the regular operation of commercial facilities.
In the monthly comparison, the sector recorded a 7% increase compared to November.
