Chile Consumer Demand in Trouble as November Retail Drops

(Bloomberg) -- Chilean retail sales unexpectedly fell in November, undercutting optimism that consumer demand would strengthen on the back of a better jobs market.

Sales dropped 0.8 percent from a year ago in the largest decline in four years, the national statistics agency reported on Friday. The result was lower than all estimates from economists in a Bloomberg survey whose median forecast was for a 1.8 percent gain.

Key Insights

• Decreasing sales of electronics, pharmacy, cosmetics and personal hygiene goods and fuel dragged down the November retail figures.
• November result follows a 7.5 percent jump in retail sales in October.
• Separately, the index of commercial activity grew 0.6 percent in November from a year earlier helped by machinery and equipment, textile, and agricultural materials, the latter of which rose 24.9 percent from the previous year.
• Automobile sales slowed sharply, and lower salary growth could hit consumption in the short-term, according to Antonio Moncado, an economist at Banco BCI
• Nathan Pincheira, chief economist at Finanzas Y Negocios SA, lowered his forecast for annual economic activity growth in November to 1.8 percent from 2.4 percent on the November retail result and employment data released earlier this week

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniela Guzman in Santiago at dguzman26@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Matthew Malinowski

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