According to preliminary information, last August the Imacec rose 19.1% over the same month a year before (figure 1). The seasonally-adjusted series rose 1.1% with respect to the previous month, and 17.8% in twelve months. The month came with one more working day than August 2020.

Every Imacec component increased with respect to the year-before month, where the contribution of services and trade activity stood out (figure 2). This result owed mainly to the increased opening of the economy, the household-support measures, the partial withdrawal of pension funds and the lower comparison base of August last year.

The seasonally-adjusted Imacec, meanwhile was explained by the performance of services, which reflected the eased restrictions to people mobility compared with the previous year (figure 3).

Imacec analysis by activity

1. Production of goods
Goods production increased 10.9%, explained by the other goods category, which rose 19.6%, reflecting the performance of construction, and the 14.8 increase in manufacturing industry, while mining posted a fall of 1.7%.

In seasonally-adjusted terms, goods production rose 0.5% with respect to the previous month, driven by other goods.

2. Trade
Trade activity rose 25.5%, boosted by its every component, particularly wholesale and retail sales of clothes, footwear and household equipment. The seasonally-adjusted figures posted a 1.5% drop from the previous month.
 

3. Services
Services rose 22.4%, thanks mainly to the performance of personal services, especially education and healthcare. To a lesser extent, entrepreneurial services, transportation, and restaurants and hotels also contributed.

Seasonally-adjusted service activity indicators showed a rise of 2.1% with respect to the month before.

Considering the challenges that the sanitary crisis has posed on the collection of basic data, the Central Bank of Chile has made extra efforts with its information providers to minimize the impact on the quality of statistics. Still, it is important to note that the figures provided here could be subject to greater revisions than has been the case historically, which will be published according to the National Accounts publication and revision calendar available on the Bank’s website www.bcentral.cl.