Chile’s economy surged in the fourth quarter as increases in mining output and investments set the stage for continued growth going forward.
Gross domestic product grew 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter, up from a revised 0.2 percent expansion in the three months through September. The economy expanded 3.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2017 and 4 percent for the full year of 2018, the central bank said in a report published on its website Monday.
The numbers indicate Chile’s economy is shaking off a slowdown marked by weak consumer demand and stubbornly high unemployment. Chilean policy makers have also had to contend with a trade feud between their largest trade partners, the U.S. and China, which has held down prices of copper, the country’s main export.
Still, rising investments are expected to help power growth going forward.
“The message here is that the recovery is consolidating gradually and the leading indicators point to a decent growth in the first part of the year and more robust in the second, assuming that the trade war between the U.S. and China ends,” said Andres Abadia, senior international economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
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