August 17, 2015

In June, economic activity contracted a working-day adjusted 0.9% over the same month last year, according to the monthly Trend Indicator of Output. The figure marked the lowest reading in five months and was weaker than the revised 0.7% contraction recorded in May (previously reported: -1.2% year-on-year). June’s contraction was driven by decreases in both secondary production and services.



On a monthly basis, economic output fell 0.1% in seasonally- and working-day adjusted terms in June, which was above the 0.5% decrease recorded in May’s revised figure (previously reported: -0.7% month-on-month). Annual average growth in economic activity fell 0.4% in June for the fourth consecutive month.

The Central Bank expects the economy to contract 0.1% in 2015 and to expand 1.0% in 2016. FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect GDP to expand 0.3% in 2015, which is unchanged from last month’s projection. For 2016, the panel sees GDP increasing 1.2%.