Treasury Minister highlights Central Bank’s positive figures that confirm 4% growth in 2018
“These figures show the significant recovery of the Chilean economy. The Chilean economy has rebounded and this was stronger than expected, considering the starting point in 2017,” said the Treasury Minister at the La Moneda Palace today.
Treasury Minister, Felipe Larraín, highlighted this morning the positive figures of the national accounts submitted by the Central Bank that confirmed the Chilean economy had grown by 4% in 2018.
“The Chilean economy grew a solid 4% in 2018. The Central Bank also revised 2017 growth downward from 1.5% to 1.3%, which means that the economic recovery in 2018 was even stronger, as it exceeded 2017 growth by more than threefold,” underscored the Minister at La Moneda Palace, after attending the Political Committee meeting on Monday.
According to Central Bank figures, non-mining GDP growth rose by 3.9%, while for the mining sector it reached 5.2%.
Furthermore, in 2017, Chile’s growth was a third of global growth (3.8%), while in 2018 Chile’s growth was almost 10% higher than global economic growth (3.7%). “These figures show the significant recovery of the Chilean economy. The Chilean economy has rebounded and this was stronger than expected, considering the starting point in 2017,” said Minister Larraín.
Other national accounts data for 2018 show that internal demand grew by 4.7% and investment recorded an expansion of 4.7%. Investment growth in 2018 was more than 7 percentage points higher than the investment performance in 2017 (-2.7%).
The Central Bank made revisions on investments for the period 2014-2017 that showed an average drop of -2.3%, in addition to the previously estimated decrease of -1.7%.
“We made important revisions on investments that speak of drops that were more significant than the ones we had in the years prior to 2018. Specifically in 2018 investment expanded by 4.7%, which reflects a strong recovery (…) Also, there is a small increase in consumption, which is good news for people. When you invest
and save you are thinking of the future, but day-to-day consumption is also important. Figures show more consumption and more exports,” said Minister Felipe Larraín, who highlighted that almost all GDP sectors grew more last year than in 2017.
In comparative terms, construction and corporate service sectors have rebounded, moving from a situation of negative growth in 2017 to one of high dynamism in 2018, in line with the upturn in investment. The construction sector expanded from -2.5% to 3.2%, while corporate services increased from -1.9% to 3.2%.
Data on national accounts show that private consumption grew by 4% last year, while exports increased by 5% and imports by 7.6%.