By The Star Staff
Puerto Rico’s economic activity index (EDB-EAI) reached 127.5 points in May, a report from the Economic Development Bank for Puerto Rico said.
The EDB-EAI index recorded in May was 1.8% higher year-over-year (YoY), according to the 21-page report. A preliminary EDB-EAI was calculated for the last quarter of 2022 and the first five months of 2023.
During fiscal year (FY) 2021, the EDB-EAI decreased by 0.8% when compared to FY 2020, but advanced by 4.9% during FY 2022.
Moreover, a preliminary increment of 1.9% was registered during calendar year 2022, after an increase of 4.9% during calendar year 2021. For the first 11 months of FY 2023 (July-May), it remained flat, preliminarily, with 0.0% growth when compared to the same period from the previous year, the report said.
Total non-farm payroll employment averaged 958.2 jobs in May, which represents an improvement of 0.8% on a month-to-month basis, and an annual increase of 4.6%.
Electric power generation, seasonally adjusted, for May 2023 totaled 1,616.5 million kilowatt-hours, indicating 6.6% growth on a month-to-month basis, and an annual drop of 0.2%.
The preliminary estimate for gasoline consumption, seasonally adjusted, in May 2023 totaled 69.6 million gallons, 0.2% below the 69.7 million gallons estimated for April 2023 and a 2.9% improvement compared to the same month from the previous year. Cement sales, also seasonally adjusted, totaled 1.281.4 billion 94-pound bags for May 2023, with increases of 0.5% on a month-to-month basis and 1.0% when compared to May 2022.