Despite the fact that there were fewer protests in February than in the previous two months, these demonstrations had an impact of two percentage points of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the second month, according to data from the Central Reserve Bank (BCR).
“There has been an impact from the closure of some mines due to the blockades, which has affected the production of the primary sector,” said the manager of Monetary Policy of the BCR, Carlos Montoro.
The impact in January was four percentage points of GDP, with which the economy would have fallen 1.4%. The official result of the first month will be known on March 15.
On the other hand, the representative of the BCR indicated that they have carried out a study comparing the evolution of the prices of the regions most affected by the blockades against the rest of the regions and a difference of 1.6 percentage points is seen.
Regarding the consequences of the rains in the north, he explained that they have had an impact on the price of lemons, which has increased by 19%.
“In chicken there has been an increase in bird flu and there has been less access to soybeans. It is expected that in the following months the impact of some measures will be seen, such as the importation of fertile eggs and the vaccination of birds, and this will reduce the price”, he added.
DATA
The Central Reserve Bank did not rule out continuing to raise interest rates, which is at 7.75%, despite having paused in March.
In January, the blockades hit sectors such as services, commerce and manufacturing the most, according to the BCR.
