Puerto Rico's Economic Activity Index declined 0.3% in December compared to the value for November, after rising the three previous months on a month-to-month basis.
On a year-over-year basis the index was down 1.4%, according to the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico, which compiles the index.
Two of the four index components rose and two fell, in both month-over-month and year-over-year comparisons.
Gasoline consumption was 5.1% higher than in December 2013. On a per day basis, the consumption advanced 2.2% in December from November 2014.
Cement sales, in bags of cement, jumped 9.7% on an annual basis. On a per day basis, cement sales rose 12.9% in December from November 2014.
Two index components, nonfarm payroll employment and electric power generation, showed negative results.
Nonfarm payroll employment fell 0.9% on an annual basis. Private sector employment slipped a more modest 0.4% in the same period. This was the first slip in private sector employment on a year-over-year basis in over a year.
Electric power generation was down 1.5% in December compared to December 2013.
Since both employment and power generation are highly seasonal in Puerto Rico, it makes little sense to compare the December figures to those for November.
The Economic Activity Index has historically had a high correlation with Puerto Rico's Gross National Product.
The index had been up for three consecutive months before December's decline.
December's index level of 125.3 was little different from the 125.6 level found in August 2013. However, December's level was far off the 2005 peak level around 156. The index now, while slightly higher than the post-Great Recession low of 124.3 in August 2014, is about even with the level that prevailed in 1994.
In late January the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the island's unemployment rate declined to a seasonally adjusted 13.7% in December from 14.1% in November.
