Chile's economy grows 1.6 percent

Chile's economy contracted 0.4 percent in the final quarter of 2016 compared with the preceding quarter, the central bank said on Monday, as weakness in mining and business services contributed to a worse-than-expected performance. Compared with a year earlier, fourth-quarter growth was 0.5 percent, in line with Reuters forecasts, taking the full-year 2016 growth to 1.6 percent.
Mining in Chile, the world's top copper exporter, fell 2.9 percent in 2016, the bank said in a report, hit by company cutbacks linked to a fall in the global copper price, as well as local factors like declining ore grades and weather conditions.