Chile´s economy grew more than analysts forecast in the second quarter fueled by a pick-up in consumer demand as the central bank pursues the most expansionary monetary policy in the Americas.
Gross domestic product grew 1.9 percent from the year earlier, the central bank said on its website Tuesday, compared with the 1.7 percent medium estimate of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. From the previous quarter, GDP was unchanged.
Chile has the lowest real interest rates among inflation-targeting central banks in the Americas and Europe outside of war-ravaged Ukraine and recession-hit Russia, as the economy remains weak. The expansionary monetary policy and increased public spending helped domestic demand rise 2 percent in the second quarter from the year earlier, up from 1.3 percent in the previous three months.
The “figures confirm that the recovery is still sluggish, but recent industrial production and retail sales data suggest that the underlying trend remains positive,” Andres Abadia, senior international economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics Ltd., said in a note to clients.
The central bank kept its benchmark rate at 3 percent last week. The rate is 1.6 percentage points below inflation, compared with 0.3 point in Peru and close to zero in Colombia. In Mexico, the key rate is 0.3 point above inflation and in Brazil the differential is 4.7 points.
Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg forecast Chile will grow 2.6 percent this and for Latin America as a whole to expand 0.1 percent.
Chilean growth picked up toward the end of the second quarter. Manufacturing unexpectedly rose 1.7 percent in June from the year earlier, while retail sales gained faster than expected and copper production was the highest since January.
An 18 percent slump in the peso against the dollar in the past year has helped some industries remain competitive, while the unemployment rate has also risen less than analysts expected, sustaining domestic demand.
The peso fell 1.3 percent to 698.99 to the dollar Tuesday as the price of copper, which accounts for more than half of Chilean exports, tumbled to $2.28 per pound, the lowest since 2009.
“Downside risks to growth predominate,” Abadia said. “Copper prices have fallen massively in recent months.”
Investment fell 3 percent in the second quarter from the year earlier, after contracting 1.9 percent in the previous three months, the central bank said Tuesday.
“This is particularly worrisome as investment has been the main drag on economic activity in the current cycle, and is not showing any signs of stabilization yet,” Abadia said.
(An earlier version of this story was corrected to show first-quarter growth in domestic demand of 1.3 percent.)