Chile downgrades 2024 growth forecast to 2.6 pc

 Aug 1 (IANS) Chile's government downgraded its economic growth forecast for 2024 from 2.7 per cent to 2.6 per cent, and lowered its inflation forecast for the year to 3.7 per cent, the Finance Ministry has said. Finance Minister Mario Marcel and other ministry officials presented on Wednesday the latest figures to parliament in a Public Finance Report for the second quarter of 2024. Economic activity "contracted slightly" in the second quarter but "will resume growth" in the third quarter, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the ministry's macroeconomic coordinator, Andres Sansone. "Given a somewhat worse performance than expected in the non-mining sectors in the second quarter, the non-mining GDP (gross domestic product) is being reviewed," he said. The government slightly upgraded its 2025 growth forecast to 2.6 per cent. Regarding inflation in 2025, officials revised their figure upwards, from 3.4 per cent to 4.4 per cent, due to higher electricity rates in the first half of the year. Chile's economy grew 1.1 per cent in May year on year, below the expectations of the domestic financial market, the central bank reported at the beginning of this month.