LatinNews Daily - 20 August 2024

*Chile’s central bank (BCCh) has released its latest figures on GDP growth, showing that economic activity contracted by 0.6% in the second quarter of 2024 with respect to the previous quarter – the first contraction on a quarterly basis in a year. This reflected declines in mining, business services, and manufacturing. Meanwhile, GDP grew by 1.6% in the second quarter as compared to the same period of 2023. This growth was mainly driven by activities in the mining (+5.5%), electricity, gas, & water (+21.9%), trade (+4.2%), and transport (+5.3%) sectors. Business services (-1.8%), agriculture & forestry (-3.8%), and fishing (-12.1%) were the activities that registered the greatest year-on-year decreases.