SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile’s economic activity index fell for the fourth consecutive month in May, the central bank said on Monday, underscoring the economic headwinds faced by the world’s largest producer of copper amid high interest rates.
The IMACEC index, a close proxy of gross domestic product (GDP), dropped 2% in May from the same month last year, while slipping 0.5% when compared with the previous month.
“The annual change in the IMACEC index was explained by a drop in mining and, to a lesser extent, in trade,” the central bank said in a statement.
Previous indicators released by the Andean country’s statistics agency had already pointed to a decline in mining output, with copper production having dropped 14% in May from a year ago.
Chile’s economy has been grappling to regain steam after a rapid post-pandemic recovery, which led to high inflation and subsequent aggressive monetary tightening, with benchmark rates currently at a cycle-high of 11.25%.
(Reporting by Fabian Andres Cambero and Gabriel Araujo; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Grant McCool)
