LatinNews Daily - 02 September 2020

* Chile’s central bank (BCCh) has released the monthly index for economic activity (Imacec) for July, which shows that the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and the strict quarantine measures taken to contain its spread, notably in the country’s main urban centres including the capital Santiago, have continued to take their toll on the economy. The July Imacec plunged 10.7% compared with July 2019, accumulating losses of 12.9% in the 12 months to July 2020. Compared with June, however, economic activity picked up slightly, with the Imacec growing 1.7%. The non-mining Imacec fell 12% year-on-year while the mining Imacec grew 1.4%, sustained by buoyant copper prices. Finance Minister Ignacio Briones was cautiously upbeat, saying that the Imacec’s “very important fall” in July was better than expected, that the government expects negative figures in the third quarter to be an improvement on the economic performance in the second quarter, and that the end of the year should bring positive economic figures ahead of a recovery in 2021.

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