LatinNews Daily - 05 February 2024

*Brazil’s national statistics institute (Ibge) has released figures for the country’s industrial production in December 2023, showing a 1.1% monthly increase, up 0.4 percentage points compared to the monthly increase registered in November. This marks the fifth consecutive month that a positive monthly figure was registered for industrial production. The accumulated annual production for 2023 was up 0.2% from 2022. Throughout last year, the sector was stagnant, registering little monthly variation (less than 1.0% increase or decrease), except for in March (+1.2%) and December. Despite the relatively strong figures from December, the Ibge noted in a press release that most industrial activities registered annual drops in production in 2023, as only nine of the 25 activities measured registered positive annual figures. The slight overall increase in industrial production in 2023 was mainly driven by extractive industries (+7.0%) and coke, petroleum products, and biofuels (+6.1%).