El Salvador lawmakers overturn mining ban Bukele called absurd
El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban all forms of metals mining in 2017.
Chile’s economic activity fell 12.4% in June from the same month a year ago, the central bank said on Monday, contracting less than expected at the peak of the coronavirus outbreak.
The bank’s IMACEC economic activity index encompasses about 90% of the economy tallied in gross domestic product figures.
Market-watchers polled by Reuters had expected a more severe contraction of 14.5%.
Finance Minister Ignacio Briones said there was little cause for celebration.
“It is a smaller decrease than the market expected, but it is still a substantial drop, which will make this second quarter the worst in a long time, with a drop in economic activity of around 14%,” Briones said in a statement.
Mining output grew 2.2% in June, even as non-mining activity plunged 14%, according to central bank figures
During much of June, Chile posted over 5,000 new cases of coronavirus daily, forcing health officials to quarantine all of the capital Santiago, a city of more 6 million and the country’s economic engine.
But the world’s top copper producer has managed to shield its all-important mining industry from the brunt of the damage, the bank data showed, helping buoy overall economic activity.
Mining output grew 2.2% in June, even as non-mining activity plunged 14%, according to its figures.
The June statistic follows record-breaking drops in overall activity in both April and May.
(By Dave Sherwood; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Nick Zieminski and Richard Chang)
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