Chilean economy grew only 0.5% in December of 2008

SANTIAGO. –According to information released by the Central Bank today, the economy of Chile grew by only 0.5% in December of last year.

The Monthly Economic Activity Indicator (Imacec), which represents the bulk of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), was below the 0.9% that had been projected by analysts.

This represents the lowest value for the final month of the year since December of 1998, in the heart of the Asian crisis, when the Imacec contracted by 2.8%.

The deseasonalized series went down by 1.1% with respect to the previous month, while the tendency cycle series registered an annualized expansion of 0.6%.

As a result, the last trimester of 2008 accumulated a growth rate around 1%.

The total GDP growth estimate of 2008 will be released by the Central Bank on March 23rd.

The GDP grew by 3.3% in the first trimester of 2008, while in the second and third trimesters it expanded by 4.5 y 4.8%, respectively.