Chilean Economy in Doldrums

The Chilean economy grew only by 1.5% in 2016, the worst economic record in seven years, the central bank announced, Xinhua reported. In December, the Monthly Index of Economic Activity (Imacec) logged growth of 1.2%, the same as that in 2015, which was in line with expectations, according to the report. However, this meant Imacec only registered 1.5% growth for all of 2016, as opposed to 2.3% in 2015. This was the worst performance since 2009, when the economy contracted by 1%. In the fourth quarter, economic activity rose at just 0.5%, continuing a downward trend seen all year. Growth in the second and third quarters was just 1.6% after 2.3% in the first trimester. The national economy was dragged down by the mining sector, which contracted by 2.8% and all other sectors combined grew at 1.9%, according to the report. Imacec regroups the activity of about 90% of goods and services that comprise Chile’s GDP.