For instance, after a strong pick-up in 2020 Q3, the GDP growth rate returned to negative territory (-0.6%) in Q4 as a result of the pandemic containment measures being reintroduced in most countries. Thus, at end-2020 GDP was still 5% below the level recorded in 2019 Q4. Drawing on the ECB projection exercise conducted prior to the spread of the pandemic (published in  2  See, for example, the October 2020 bank lending survey (BLS). See Menéndez-Pujadas and Mulino (2020) for a summary of the results of the survey for participating Spanish banks. 3  See Alves et al. (2020) and Alves et al. (2021) for further details on the developments in financing granted to firms and households in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. 4  December 2019), at end-2020 GDP was 6.3% below the level forecast for the end of that year. By country, among the four largest euro area economies, the output loss was more pronounced in Spain (9.1%) than in Italy, France and Germany (down 6.6%, 4.9% and 3.6%, respectively). Also of note is the heterogeneous cross-sector impact of the pandemic, which is mainly affecting services. Much uncertainty also persists regarding the intensity of the recovery in the early stages of 2021, in view of the recent course of the pandemic in Europe. The available short-term indicators signal a slowdown in activity so far this year. Should the additional health crisis containment measures endure across the board, a fresh contraction in some countries or sectors cannot be ruled out.
MONETARY POLICY REPORT PRESENTATION TO THE FINANCE COMMITTEE OF THE HONORABLE SENATE OF THE REPUBLIC ∗  Mario Marcel Governor Central Bank of Chile 3 April 2017  The Monetary Policy Report of March 2017 can be found at http://www.bcentral.cl/en  ∗  Introduction Mr. Governor of the Senate’s Finance Committee, Senator Carlos Montes, honorable members of this Committee, ladies, gentlemen, Thank you for your invitation to present the views of the Board of the Central Bank of Chile about the recent macroeconomic developments, their projections and implications for monetary policy. This vision is contained in detail in our Monetary Policy Report (the Report) of March 2017. It is worth mentioning that this Report includes for the first time economic forecasts for 2018, as I will show you throughout this presentation. I am here with the full Board and all the staff responsible for the topics covered in our Report. I wish to make a special mention of our new Board member, Ms Rosanna Costa, recently confirmed by this Senate, and Ms Solange Berstein, our Financial Policy Division Director, as of today. In recent months, annual CPI inflation has continued to decline, in line with forecasts in the December Report. Goods inflation continues to be shaped largely by the movements of the exchange rate, while services inflation has continued to drop gradually, marked by the widespread indexation and consistently with the business cycle. Meanwhile, in late last year and into this, GDP of non-natural-resources sectors performed weaker than forecast.