SANTIAGO, June 2, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Chile’s economy nose-dived more than 14 percent in April compared to the same month in 2019 as the impact of the coronavirus lockdown took effect, the country’s central bank said on Monday.
It was the worst plunge since records began and worse even than the most pessimistic projections of a 10 percent fall.
According to the bank’s economic activity index, the economy fell 8.7 percent from the previous month and is down 12.4 percent over the last year.
The data is a result of restrictions imposed by the government over the coronavirus pandemic in the country of 18 million people. Chile has recorded almost 100,000 COVID-19 cases and 1,000 deaths.
Chile was never under a total lockdown but measures to prevent the virus spread began in mid-March while the capital Santiago, home to seven million people, was put under a complete lockdown two weeks ago.
The figures for May are expected to be even worse.
Mining activity fell only 0.1 percent in April, according to the Central Bank, while non-mining activity was down 15.5 percent.
“In this context, the worst affected activities were services and trade, and, to a lesser degree, construction and manufacturing,” it said.
Education, transport, restaurants and hotels were among the services worst hit.
Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, authorities were predicting a 1.1 percent rise in GDP this year but that has been adjusted to a decline of between 2.5 and 4.0 percent.