P.R.’s economic activity drops 0.7% in June ’19 vs. same month in ’18
Puerto Rico’s Economic Activity Index — which measures the performance of key indicators — showed a 0.7% year-over-year drop in June 2019, according to the data released by the Economic Development Bank.
This was the first year-over-year decrease after 11 months of consecutive increases, the report showed.
According to the document, the annual comparison is with respect to a period when the island’s electrical system had not been completely restored, after the impact of Hurricanes Irma and María.
Furthermore, the EAI also experienced a 0.7% year-over-year drop in June 2018, the report stated.
The EAI recorded a figure of 120.3 for the month of June 2019, which also reflects a 0.3% decrease when compared with the result shown in May 2019.
In cumulative terms, the EAI’s average for the first six months of the year — from January to June 2019 — was 121.0. This represents an increase of 2.2% when compared with the same period of 2018.
In addition, the EAI’s accumulated average for Fiscal 2019 showed a level of 121.2, which translates into a growth of 5.8% compared to the result for Fiscal 2018 (114.6 or – 6.4%). The result of the EAI’s growth rate observed for Fiscal 2019 is the first increase after six consecutive years of reductions, the government document stated.
In June 2019, power generation grew 5.1% and non-agricultural wage employment increased 1.0%. However, cement sales decreased 5.2% and gasoline consumption decreased 20.1%, year-over-year. All results were compared to June 2018 figures.
