Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Chile's Pinera, at inauguration, vows to end 'stagnation'

Published 03/11/2018, 10:08 PM
Updated 03/11/2018, 10:08 PM
© Reuters. Chile's President Sebastian Pinera waves after being sworn in at the Congress in Valparaiso

© Reuters. Chile's President Sebastian Pinera waves after being sworn in at the Congress in Valparaiso

By Antonio De la Jara and Fabian Cambero

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Conservative billionaire Sebastian Pinera vowed to combat economic "stagnation" from years of center-left rule as he started a new term as Chile's president on Sunday, calling for austerity and support for the shrinking middle class in one of Latin America's wealthiest nations.

After receiving the presidential sash from outgoing socialist President Michelle Bachelet, Pinera, who served as president for four years before Bachelet, promised to help eradicate poverty and transform Chile into a developed nation within a decade.

He said in a speech his government would perform "major surgery" on the public health care system while strengthening welfare programs and trading the country's "bulldozer" approach to policymaking for one based on gradual change and consensus.

"To make progress on all these goals, it is fundamental we counter the stagnation of recent years, restoring fiscal equilibrium as well as our leadership, dynamism and ability to grow," Pinera said in a speech from a balcony at the presidential palace in the capital Santiago.

Pinera, 68, was elected in December with a strong mandate, becoming the newest member of a group of conservative leaders who have risen to power in South America in recent years - all of whom attended his inauguration.

A Harvard-trained economist and the son of a prominent centrist politician, Pinera made his fortune introducing credit cards to Chile in the 1980s.

"The state must be austere and efficient in the use of public resources... and must never be captured by bureaucracy, corruption or political operators," Pinera said.

Pinera's incoming finance minister, Felipe Larrain, said he would rein in government spending this year, after Bachelet's government left a bigger-than-expected fiscal deficit of 2.1 percent of gross domestic product instead of 1.7 as targeted.

"Without a doubt, it's bad news," Larrain told journalists at the inauguration. "We're going to have to get to work to examine and understand how this deficit increase happened."

POPULAR OPPOSITION

As a candidate, Pinera said he would gradually balance the budget over six to eight years.

To revive growth in the world's top copper producer, incoming Mines Minister Baldo Prokurica said Pinera's government would seek to rescue $50 billion in mining investments from bureaucratic red tape.

But Pinera will have to govern with a divided Congress and a prickly leftist coalition that has vowed to fight his plans to lower taxes and "correct" Bachelet's progressive policies.

"The left may have lost the election, but I think they still feel like they own the streets, the popular opinion," said Kenneth Bunker, a Chilean political scientist. "Pinera will feel that if he does anything too extreme, people will mobilize."

But Pinera's timing is good. Rising copper prices have boosted Chile's exports, helping shore up government revenues and revive growth in the country's $250 billion economy.

While his 2010-2014 government was marred by street protests over rising inequality, Pinera started his new term by making several nods to progressive causes, from the need for pension reform to protections for nature and the environment.

In his first official activity as president, Pinera visited a children's center run by a state service that has been accused of improper care that contributed to the deaths of 1,300 children in the past decade.

© Reuters. Chile's President Sebastian Pinera waves after being sworn in at the Congress in Valparaiso

"True development has a human face and its north is to improve the quality of life of Chileans," Pinera said.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.