Chile's economic activity down sharply amid crisis

Chile's economic activity fell 3.4 percent in October, as a prolonged bout of social unrest battered commerce and services, the central bank reported Monday.

The sharp drop in the bank's monthly index of economic activity was far greater than the 1.0 percent anticipated in official estimates, and was the worst performance since 2009 at the height of the global economic crisis.

"Economic activity during the month was affected by the drop in services, commerce and manufacturing," the bank said.

Protests erupted in Chile on October 18 over metro fare hikes and quickly escalated into the most severe outbreak of social unrest since the end of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in 1990.