SANTIAGO - Chile's IMACEC economic activity index, a close proxy of gross domestic product (GDP), rose 7.2% in March from the same month last year, the country's central bank said on Monday.

That was above market expectations of a 6.3% rise, according to a Reuters poll of economists. Chile's economic activity in March was also up 1.6% from a month earlier in seasonally adjusted terms, the central bank added.

(Reporting by Fabian Andres Cambero, Writing by Alexander Villegas, Editing by Mark Potter)