© RODRIGO GARRIDO
Third
After this morning the Central Bank reported that the Monthly Index of Economic Activity (Imacec) grew by 6.8% in twelve months, recording its lowest expansion in almost a yearand thus confirming the slowdown that growth is experiencing, the Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel, He reiterated that this is a necessary process to contain inflationary pressures.
“What this indicates is that the economy has been continuing with this process of greater stability that began at the end of 2021,” Marcel said.
In this regard, he recalled that the data corresponding to the performance of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of last year began to reflect a moderation in the evolution of economic activity and particularly of demand and durable consumption.
In this regard, he emphasized that “That is something that is not bad in itself, the economy needs to stabilize, the economy, I think we can all understand, cannot continue to grow at rates of 12% as it was last yearabove all because this is generating greater inflationary pressures”.
Price pressure
For this reason, he maintained that “in these circumstances, the fact that demand is moderating means that we are moving in the direction that is necessary to gradually reduce these pressures on prices.”
The growth of 12% of the economy last year was the highest since comparable records are available (1960)and was mainly driven by the rise in consumption, given the greater liquidity generated by withdrawals of pension funds and state aid to face the effects of the pandemic.
But for the next few months a moderation is anticipated. In fact, in the middle of this week, the Central Bank lowered its growth projections for 2022 and 2023, not ruling out even a contraction for next year.
