LatinNews Daily - 20 June 2024

*Chile’s central bank (BCCh) has released its latest monetary policy report (IPoM) in which it forecasts that Chile’s GDP will grow between 2.25%-3.0%, up from 2.0%-3.0% in its previous March IPoM report. It cites better-than-expected domestic demand and favourable copper prices as reasons for the revision upwards. However, it has also raised its forecast for inflation to close at 4.2% by end 2024, up from 3.8% in its March IPoM, citing an increase in electricity tariffs as a reason. The BCCh also increased its forecast for inflation in 2025 to 3.6%, up from its previous 3.0% forecast in March although expects that this will converge to the 3.0% target in the first half of 2026. It adds that the rise in electricity tariffs is expected to add 1.45 percentage points to the cumulative inflation rate by mid-2025.