UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 18-K
For Foreign Governments and Political Subdivisions Thereof
ANNUAL REPORT
OF
REPUBLIC OF CHILE
(Name of Registrant)
Date of end of last fiscal year: December 31, 2015
SECURITIES REGISTERED*
(As of the close of the fiscal year)
Title of Issue | Amount as to | Names of |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
Name and address of person authorized to receive notices
and communications from the Securities and Exchange Commission:
Andrés de la Cruz, Esq.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
One Liberty Plaza
New York, NY 10006
| * | The Registrant is filing this annual report on a voluntary basis. |
The information set forth below is to be furnished:
1. In respect of each issue of securities of the registrant registered, a brief statement as to:
(a) The general effect of any material modifications, not previously reported, of the rights of the holders of such securities.
There have been no such modifications.
(b) The title and the material provisions of any law, decree or administrative action, not previously reported, by reason of which the security is not being serviced in accordance with the terms thereof.
There has been no such law, decree or administrative action.
(c) The circumstances of any other failure, not previously reported, to pay principal, interest, or any sinking fund or amortization installment.
There has been no such failure.
2. A statement as of the close of the last fiscal year of the registrant giving the total outstanding of:
(a) Internal funded debt of the registrant. (Total to be stated in the currency of the registrant. If any internal funded debt is payable in foreign currency it should not be included under this paragraph (a), but under paragraph (b) of this item.)
As of December 31, 2015, the total outstanding internal funded debt of the registrant was Ps. 22,059,040 million. See “Central Government Total Net Debt” table on page D-102, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
(b) External funded debt of the registrant. (Totals to be stated in the respective currencies in which payable. No statement need be furnished as to intergovernmental debt.)
The total principal amount of external funded debt of the registrant outstanding as of December 31, 2015 was as follows (in millions of U.S. dollars):
| U.S. dollars | US$ 4,703,684,799 | |||
| Euros | 2,459,107,627 | |||
| Chilean pesos | 614,054,062 | |||
| Other | 388,702 | |||
| Total | US$ 7,777,235,189 |
3. A statement giving the title, date of issue, date of maturity, interest rate and amount outstanding, together with the currency or currencies in which payable, of each issue of funded debt of the registrant outstanding as of the close of the last fiscal year of the registrant.
See “Tables and Supplemental Information,” pages D-104 to D-109 of Exhibit 99.D, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
| 4. | (a) As to each issue of securities of the registrant which is registered, there should be furnished a break-down of the total amount outstanding, as shown in Item 3, into the following: |
(1) Total amount held by or for the account of the registrant.
None.
(2) Total estimated amount held by nationals of the registrant (or if registrant is other than a national government by the nationals of its national government); this estimate need be furnished only if it is practicable to do so.
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Not available.
(3) Total amount otherwise outstanding.
Not applicable.
(b) If a substantial amount is set forth in answer to paragraph (a)(1) above, describe briefly the method employed by the registrant to reacquire such securities.
Not applicable.
5. A statement as of the close of the last fiscal year of the registrant giving the estimated total of:
(a) Internal floating indebtedness of the registrant. (Total to be stated in the currency of the registrant.)
See “Public Sector Debt,” pages D-96 to D-104 of Exhibit 99.D, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
(b) External floating indebtedness of the registrant. (Total to be stated in the respective currencies in which payable.)
See “Public Sector Debt,” pages D-96 to D-104 of Exhibit 99.D, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
6. Statements of the receipts, classified by source, and of the expenditures, classified by purpose, of the registrant for each fiscal year of the registrant ended since the close of the latest fiscal year for which such information was previously reported. These statements should be so itemized as to be reasonably informative and should cover both ordinary and extraordinary receipts and expenditures; there should be indicated separately, if practicable, the amount of receipts pledged or otherwise specifically allocated to any issue registered, indicating the issue.
See “Public Sector Finances,” pages D-77 to D-95 of Exhibit 99.D, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
| 7. | (a) If any foreign exchange control, not previously reported, has been established by the registrant (or if the registrant is other than a national government, by its national government), briefly describe the effect of any such action, not previously reported. |
Not applicable.
(b) If any foreign exchange control previously reported has been discontinued or materially modified, briefly describe the effect of any such action, not previously reported.
Not applicable.
8. Brief statements as of a date reasonably close to the date of the filing of this report (indicating such date), in respect of the note issue and gold reserves of the central bank of issue of the registrant, and of any further gold stocks held by the registrant.
See “Monetary and Financial System—Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy, General Overview —International Reserves,” page D-61 of Exhibit 99.D, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
9. Statements of imports and exports of merchandise for each year ended since the close of the latest year for which such information was previously reported. The statements should be reasonably itemized so far as practicable as to commodities and as to countries. They should be set forth in items of value and of weight or quantity; if statistics have been established in terms of value, such will suffice.
See “Balance of Payments and Foreign Trade—Foreign Trade,” pages D-51 to D-54 of Exhibit 99.D, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
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10. The balances of international payments of the registrant for each year ended since the close of the latest year for which such information was previously reported. The statements of such balances should conform, if possible, to the nomenclature and form used in the “Statistical Handbook of the League of Nations.” (These statements need to be furnished only if the registrant has published balances of international payments.)
See “Balance of Payments and Foreign Trade—Foreign Trade,” pages D-51 to D-54 of Exhibit 99.D, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
This annual report comprises:
(a) Pages numbered 1 to 6 consecutively.
(b) The following exhibits:
Exhibit A — None.
Exhibit B — None.
Exhibit 99.C — The 2016 National Budget
Exhibit 99.D — Description of Republic of Chile, dated September 12, 2016.
This annual report is filed subject to the Instructions for Form 18-K for Foreign Governments and Political Subdivisions Thereof.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
| SIGNATURE | 6 |
| EXHIBIT INDEX | 7 |
| EXHIBIT 99.D DESCRIPTION OF REPUBLIC OF CHILE DATED SEPTEMBER 12, 2016 | 8 |
| 5 |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant, Republic of Chile, has duly caused this Annual Report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Santiago, Chile, on the 12th day of September, 2016.
| REPUBLIC OF CHILE | ||
| By: | /s/ ALEJANDRO MICCO AGUAYO | |
Alejandro Micco Aguayo Republic of Chile | ||
| 6 |
Exhibit | Description |
| 99.C: | Copy of the 2016 National Budget. |
| 99.D: | Description of Republic of Chile, dated September 12, 2016. |
| 7 |
Exhibit 99.D
Description of
Republic of Chile
September 12, 2016
| 8 |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
CERTAIN DEFINED TERMS AND CONVENTIONS
Exchange Rates
For your convenience, Chile has provided translations of certain amounts into U.S. dollars at the rates specified below unless otherwise indicated.
Exchange Rate(1) | ||
| At December 31, 2010 | Ps.468.37 per US$ 1.00 | |
| Average for year ended December 31, 2010 | Ps.510.38 per US$ 1.00 | |
| At December 31, 2011 | Ps.521.46 per US$ 1.00 | |
| Average for year ended December 31, 2011 | Ps.483.36 per US$ 1.00 | |
| At December 31, 2012 | Ps.478.60 per US$ 1.00 | |
| Average for year ended December 31, 2012 | Ps.486.75 per US$ 1.00 | |
| At December 31, 2013 | Ps.523.76 per US$ 1.00 | |
| Average for year ended December 31, 2013 | Ps.495.00 per US$ 1.00 | |
| At December 31, 2014 | Ps.607.38 per US$ 1.00 | |
| Average for year ended December 31, 2014 | Ps.570.40 per US$ 1.00 | |
| At December 31, 2015 | Ps.707.34 per US$ 1.00 | |
| Average for year ended December 31, 2015 | Ps.654.25 per US$ 1.00 |
| (1) | As reported by the Chilean Central Bank in accordance with paragraph 2 of article 44 of its Constitutional Organic Act. |
For amounts relating to a period, Chilean pesos are translated into U.S. dollar amounts using the average exchange rate for that period. For amounts at period end, Chilean pesos are translated into U.S. dollar amounts using the exchange rate at the period end.
The Chilean Central Bank reported the exchange rate for Chile’s formal exchange market at Ps.660.95 per US$1.00 as of September 8, 2016. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York does not report a noon buying rate for Chilean pesos.
Presentation of Financial Information
All annual information presented in this prospectus is based upon January 1 to December 31 periods, unless otherwise indicated. Totals in tables in this prospectus may differ from the sum of the individual items in those tables due to rounding.
Since Chile’s official financial and economic statistics are subject to review by the Central Bank, the information in this prospectus may be adjusted or revised. The information and data contained in this prospectus for December 31, 2015 and thereafter is preliminary and subject to further revision. The government believes that this review process is substantially similar to the practices of many industrialized nations. The government does not expect revisions to be material, although it cannot assure you that material changes will not be made.
Defined Terms
This prospectus defines the terms set forth below as follows:
| · | Gross domestic product or GDP means the total value of final products and services produced in Chile during the relevant period. |
| · | Imports are calculated based upon (i) for purposes of foreign trade, statistics reported to Chilean customs upon entry of goods into Chile on a cost, insurance and freight included, or CIF, basis and (ii) for purposes of balance of payments, statistics collected on a free on board, or FOB, basis at a given departure location. |
| · | Exports are calculated based upon statistics reported to Chilean customs upon departure of goods from Chile on an FOB basis. |
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| · | Rate of inflation or inflation rate is the change in the consumer price index, or CPI, for the relevant calendar year, unless otherwise specified. The CPI is calculated on a weighted basket of consumer goods and services using a monthly averaging method. The rate of inflation is measured by comparing the CPI indices in December of the latest year against the indices for the prior December. See “Monetary and Financial System—Inflation.” |
| · | An Unidad de Fomento (UF) is an inflation-indexed, Chilean peso-denominated monetary unit that is set daily based on the Chilean CPI of the immediately preceding 30 days as calculated and published daily by the Chilean Central Bank. The main use of this index is in connection with “re-adjustable” payment obligations denominated in Chilean pesos. |
Unless otherwise indicated, all annual rates of growth are average annual compounded rates, and all financial data are presented in current prices.
This prospectus refers to the state-owned companies and institutions as indicated below:
| Banco Central de Chile | Chilean Central Bank |
| Banco del Estado de Chile | Banco Estado |
| Corporación de Fomento de la Producción | CORFO |
| Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile | Codelco |
| Empresa Nacional del Petróleo | ENAP |
| Empresa de Transporte de Pasajeros Metro S.A. | Metro |
| Empresa Nacional de Minería | Enami |
| Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado | EFE |
This prospectus and any prospectus supplement may contain forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are statements that are not about historical facts, including statements about Chile’s beliefs and expectations. These statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections, and therefore, you should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Chile undertakes no obligation to update publicly any of these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events, including changes in Chile’s economic policy or budgeted expenditures, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Chile cautions you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited to:
| · | Adverse external factors, such as high international interest rates, low copper and mineral prices and recession or low growth in Chile’s trading partners. High international interest rates could negatively affect Chile’s current account and could increase budgetary expenditures. Low copper and mineral prices could decrease the government’s revenues and could negatively affect the current account. Recession or low growth in Chile’s trading partners could lead to fewer exports from Chile and lower growth in Chile; |
| · | Instability or volatility in the international financial markets, including in particular continued or increased distress in the financial markets of the European Union, could lead to domestic volatility, which may adversely affect the ability of the Chilean government to achieve its macroeconomic goals. This could also lead to declines in foreign investment inflows, in particular portfolio investments; |
| · | Adverse domestic factors, such as a decline in foreign direct and portfolio investment, increases in domestic inflation, high domestic interest rates and exchange rate volatility. Each of these factors could lead to lower growth or lower international reserves; and |
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| · | Other adverse factors, such as energy deficits or restrictions, climatic or seismic events, international or domestic hostilities and political uncertainty. |
This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. It is not complete and may not contain all the information that you should consider before investing in the debt securities. You should read the entire prospectus and any prospectus supplement carefully.
Selected Financial Information(1)
| THE ECONOMY | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |||||||||||||||
| Gross Domestic Product (GDP)(2) | 250,992 | 265,080 | 276,826 | 258,215 | 240,169 | |||||||||||||||
| Real GDP (in billions of pesos)(3) | 103,955 | 109,628 | 114,261 | 116,425 | 118,525 | |||||||||||||||
| % Change from prior year | 5.8 | % | 5.5 | % | 4.2 | % | 1.9 | % | 2.1 | % | ||||||||||
| Consumer price index (percentage change from previous year at period end) | 4.4 | % | 1.5 | % | 3.0 | % | 4.6 | % | 4.4 | % | ||||||||||
| Producer price index (percentage change from previous year at period end) | (7.4 | )% | (0.7 | )% | (2.8 | )% | (3.3 | )% | (10.7 | )% | ||||||||||
| Unemployment rate (annual average) | 7.1 | % | 6.4 | % | 5.9 | % | 6.4 | % | 6.2 | % | ||||||||||
| BALANCE OF PAYMENTS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Trade balance(4) | 7,967 | (411 | ) | (1.582 | ) | 4,010 | (317 | ) | ||||||||||||
| Current account | (3,088 | ) | (9,624 | ) | (10,125 | ) | (2,995 | ) | (4,762 | ) | ||||||||||
| Financial and capital account (including change in reserves) | (3,626 | ) | (9,309 | ) | (11,240 | ) | (2,716 | ) | (4,156 | ) | ||||||||||
| Errors and omissions | (562 | ) | 291 | (1,138 | ) | 259 | (564 | ) | ||||||||||||
| Chilean Central Bank, international reserves (period-end) | 41,979 | 41,649 | 41,094 | 40,447 | 38,643 | |||||||||||||||
| Number of months of import coverage(5) | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.9 | 6.4 | |||||||||||||||
| PUBLIC FINANCE | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Central government revenue | 57,022 | 59,107 | 58,345 | 53,409 | 51,342 | |||||||||||||||
| % of GDP | 22.7 | % | 22.3 | % | 21.1 | % | 20.7 | % | 21.4 | % | ||||||||||
| Central government expenditure | 53,796 | 57,612 | 60,009 | 57,639 | 56,555 | |||||||||||||||
| % of GDP | 21.4 | % | 21.7 | % | 21.7 | % | 22.3 | % | 23.5 | % | ||||||||||
| Central government surplus (deficit) | 3,226 | 1,495 | (1,664 | ) | (4,230 | ) | (5,213 | ) | ||||||||||||
| % of GDP | 1.3 | % | 0.6 | % | (0.6 | )% | (1.6 | )% | (2.2 | )% | ||||||||||
| Consolidated non-financial public sector surplus (deficit)(6) | 9,329 | 6,021 | 791 | (1.228 | ) | n.a | ||||||||||||||
| % of GDP | 3.7 | % | 2.3 | % | 0.3 | % | (0.5 | )% | n.a | |||||||||||
| PUBLIC DEBT | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Central government external debt | 5,280 | 6,135 | 5,160 | 6,544 | 7,777 | |||||||||||||||
| Central government external debt/GDP | 2.1 | % | 2.3 | % | 1.9 | % | 2.5 | % | 3.5 | % | ||||||||||
| Central government external debt/exports(7) | 6.4 | % | 6.5 | % | 5.7 | % | 7.4 | % | 10.8 | % | ||||||||||
| (1) | In millions of U.S. dollars, except as otherwise indicated. |
| (2) | GDP in U.S. dollars calculated by translating the nominal GDP in pesos at the average exchange rate of each period. |
| (3) | Calculated using chained volumes at prices for the immediately preceding year. |
| (4) | Trade balance consists of goods and services. |
| (5) | Imports consist of goods and services. |
| (6) | The non-financial public sector includes the central government, municipalities and public-owned enterprises, but does not include Banco Estado and the Chilean Central Bank. |
| (7) | Exports consist of goods and services. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank, Chilean Budget Office and National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas, or INE).
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MAP OF CHILE
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Area and Population
Chile covers an area of approximately 756,626 square kilometers (excluding the Antarctic territory, which covers approximately 1,250,000 square kilometers). Continental Chile occupies a narrow strip of land, with an average width of 177 kilometers, extending approximately 4,270 kilometers along South America’s west coast. It borders Peru to the north, the Antarctic territory to the south, Bolivia and Argentina to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Continental Chile’s geography is dominated by a range of Pacific coastal mountains in the west, the Andes Mountains in the east and a valley that lies between these two ranges. Southern Chile is mostly an archipelago, with Cape Horn at its tip. Chile’s territory also includes several islands, including Easter Island, Juan Fernández Island and Salas y Gómez Island.
Continental Chile has five well-defined geographic regions: the northern desert, the high Andean sector, the central valley, the southern lakes district and the archipelago region. Approximately 22.9% of Chile’s land area is forested, while the remaining non-urban areas consist primarily of agricultural areas, deserts and mountains. The northern desert region is rich in mineral resources. The climate is dry and hot in the north, temperate in the central regions and cool and wet in the south.
Chile’s population, industry and arable land are mainly concentrated in the central valley, which includes the nation’s capital and largest city, Santiago, and its two largest ports, San Antonio and Valparaíso.
According to the national census conducted in 2002, Chile’s population was approximately 15.1 million, with an annual average growth rate of 1.2% per year from June 1992 to June 2002. The 2002 national census showed that the population in Chile was highly urbanized, with approximately 87.0% living in cities, with approximately 40.0% of urban dwellers residing in the Santiago metropolitan area, which includes the city of Santiago and the surrounding region. Spanish is Chile’s official language. Although a national census was conducted during the first half of 2012, the results were not satisfactory to the National Institute of Statistics, and a new national census will be conducted in 2017. The estimated population of Chile as of December 31, 2015 was 18 million.
Chile considers itself an upper-middle income economy. The following table provides selected comparative statistics as set forth in the CIA 2015 World Factbook:
| Argentina | Brazil | Chile | Colombia | Mexico | Venezuela | United States of America | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Per capita GDP(1) (in US$) | 22,600 | 15,600 | 23,500 | 13,800 | 17,500 | 16,700 | 55,800 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Life expectancy at birth (in years) | 77.69 | 73.53 | 78.61 | 75.48 | 75.65 | 74.54 | 79.68 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Infant mortality (deaths per 1,000 live births) | 9.69 | 18.60 | 6.86 | 14.58 | 12.23 | 18.91 | 5.87 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Literacy rate | 98.1 | % | 92.6 | % | 97.5 | % | 94.7 | % | 95.1 | % | 96.3 | % | 99.0 | %(2) | ||||||||||||||
| (1) | Figures are adjusted by purchasing power parity (PPP). |
| (2) | Data corresponds to 2003 estimation. |
Source: CIA 2015 World Factbook.
The Chilean Constitution and Government
Chile is a democratic republic. Accordingly, the Chilean Constitution declares and guarantees principles such as the recognition and protection of human dignity, equality before the law, protection of private property and free entrepreneurship, freedom of speech and association, popular sovereignty, representative government, separation of powers and the rule of law.
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The Constitution was approved in a national referendum in 1980 and provides for a system of government composed of three separate and independent powers: an executive branch headed by a President (with a non-renewable four-year term), a legislative branch consisting of a two-chambered Congress, and a judicial branch in which the Supreme Court is the highest authority for all matters not pertaining to constitutional law. The Constitution also provides for a Constitutional Court, which is the highest authority for all matters of constitutional law.
The 1980 Constitution was significantly amended in 1989 and in 2005 to introduce important changes to the structure of the political system, including (i) increasing oversight powers of the lower house; (ii) decreasing the powers and status of the National Security Council, which is now an advisory body; (iii) strengthening the role of the Constitutional Court by allowing it to rule on the constitutionality of laws; and (iv) introducing a six-year presidential term limit, which has subsequently been reduced to four years.
In 2015, President Bachelet initiated a process aimed at adopting a new Constitution by 2018. The draft of the new Constitution is expected to be submitted to Congress during the second half of 2017 and will require a 2/3 majority vote to amend the current Constitution. See “—Recent Political History.”
The Congress consists of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. Thirty-eight senators comprise the Senate, while the Chamber of Deputies has 120 members. Congress recently passed an electoral reform that will increase the number of representatives in each body of Congress. See “—Political Parties.” Once the electoral reform is fully implemented, the Senate will have 50 members and the Chamber of Deputies will have 155 members. All members of Congress are elected by popular vote.
There are 21 judges on the Supreme Court, each appointed by the president (out of five candidates proposed by the Supreme Court) with the Senate’s consent, and each of whom can serve until age 75. The Chilean Constitutional Court is composed of 10 judges, three of whom are appointed by the President, three by the Supreme Court and four by Congress, who each serve until age 75.
Recent Political History
From its independence from Spain in 1810 until 1973 (with the exception of short intervals in the early 1800s, in 1924 and in 1931), Chile had a democratically elected government. In September 1973, a military junta, led by General Augusto Pinochet, then commander-in-chief of the army, took power and held it until 1990, when a democratic system was reinstated.
Former President Patricio Aylwin, a member of the Christian Democratic Party (Partido Demócrata Cristiano, or PDC), reinstated civilian rule when he took office for a four-year term on March 11, 1990 with the support of the Parties for Democracy Coalition (Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia, or the Concertación coalition), a political coalition described below. His election in December 1989 followed a transition from military rule that included a countrywide plebiscite in 1988, as stipulated in the 1980 Constitution. Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, also a member of the PDC and supported by the Concertación coalition, was elected to the presidency in December 1993 for a six-year term and took office on March 11, 1994. In January 2000, again with the support of the Concertación coalition, Ricardo Lagos, founder of the Party for Democracy (Partido por la Democracia, or PPD), was elected to the presidency for a six-year term, which ended on March 11, 2006. His successor, Michelle Bachelet, became the first female president of Chile after being sworn into office on March 11, 2006. Ms. Bachelet is a member of the Socialist Party (Partido Socialista, or PS) and was supported by the Concertación coalition. Sebastián Piñera, member of the National Renewal Party (Renovación Nacional, or RN) at the time of his election, was elected to the presidency in January 2010 for a four-year term. Mr. Piñera resigned from RN prior to being sworn in as President on March 11, 2010, having won the 2010 presidential elections with the support of the center-right Coalition for Change (Coalición por el Cambio). The current president, Ms. Bachelet, was elected president for a second term of four years, ending on March 11, 2018. Ms. Bachelet won the 2013 elections, supported by the center-left coalition, New Majority (Nueva Mayoría).
On April 28, 2015, President Bachelet announced the government’s intention to adopt a wide range of measures to regulate political financing and the process followed in appointing certain government officials. The measures are intended to eradicate certain practices involving the financing of political activities and include government funding for political parties, a ban on contributions made by business entities, the elimination of anonymous and undisclosed political donations, the updating of the current public lists of members of political parties, the removal of officials elected in elections involving illegal activities and the increase of non-elected government officials appointed through a merit-based selection process carried out by the Sistema de Alta Dirección Pública. In November 2015, Law No 20,870 approved the removal of officials elected in elections involving illegal activities. Laws No. 20,900 and 20,915 enacted in April 2016 implemented all other measures announced by President Bachelet on April 28, 2015.
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On April 29, 2015 President Bachelet urged Congress to act on certain bills pending discussion regarding probity in public service. Such bills include a mandatory trust for officials holding investments in shares and securities valued in excess of approximately US$1,020,000, and a limitation on the re-election of officials elected by popular vote (senators will be subject to a maximum of two consecutive terms, while other authorities would be subject to a maximum of three consecutive terms).
On October 13, 2015, President Bachelet initiated a process intended to lead to a constitutional reform and the adoption of a new Constitution by 2018. The process included a series of governmental measures, which began with an initial stage of civic and constitutional education, and was followed by a second stage, referred to as “Citizen’s Dialogue” (“Dialogo Ciudadano”). The conclusions of these exchanges are expected to be laid out in a document to be entitled “The Citizens’ Foundations for a New Constitution” (“Bases Ciudadanas para la Nueva Constitución”). These conclusions and proposals are scheduled to be submitted to President Bachelet during the third quarter of 2016. The process contemplates that a bill will be submitted to Congress by the end of 2016 to establish the procedures to amend the current Constitution. A 2/3 majority approval by each chamber of Congress will be required to amend the existing Constitution. The draft of the new Constitution is expected to be submitted to Congress during the second half of 2017.
President Bachelet has submitted different alternatives in terms of which body would take responsibility for the drafting of the new Constitution. These alternatives are: (i) a commission comprised of members of both houses of Congress; (ii) a constitutional convention formed by citizens and members of Congress; (iii) a constitutional assembly; and (iv) a plebiscite for all voters to decide among the preceding alternatives, with a majority requirement still to be proposed. The mechanism has to be approved by a 3/5 majority vote in Congress during 2017, after the scheduled presidential and congressional elections. Lastly, unless the alternative for the drafting of the Constitution was determined by a plebiscite as previously described, the new Constitution must be ratified by a plebiscite, with a majority requirement still to be proposed.
Political Parties
Since the restoration of democracy in 1990, Chile has had two major political groups: the center-left and center-right coalitions.
The center-left coalition was originally called Concertación, and consisted of the following political parties until the presidential and congressional elections held in November 2013: the centrists, the PDC and the Radical Social Democratic Party (Partido Radical Socialdemócrata, or PRSD), as well as the moderate-left parties, the PPD and the PS. For the presidential and congressional elections of 2013, the center-left coalition took the name of Nueva Mayoría and expanded to include the Communist Party (Partido Comunista, or PC) and Broad Social Movement (Movimiento Amplio Social, or MAS).
The center-right coalition, Alliance for Chile (Alianza por Chile, successor to the Coalition for Change), consists of the following political parties: the center-right RN and the Independent Democratic Union Party (Unión Demócrata Independiente, or UDI). Since the most recent congressional election in 2013, several smaller political parties have been created, with Political Evolution (Evolución Política, or Evópoli) and Amplitude (Amplitud), two center right political movements, incorporated on April 2016 and March 2016, respectively, being the most important.
There are also several smaller parties, which from 1990 to date have generally not been represented in Congress, but have had elected representatives in certain municipal governments. These parties have historically had limited success because voting for the Chamber of Deputies takes place district-by-district and candidates from minority parties have not received the most votes in any individual constituency, despite their parties receiving a significant share of the national popular vote. In the most recent congressional election held in October 2013, however, a member of the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal) and three independent candidates were elected to the Chamber of Deputies, and one independent candidate was elected senator.
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In December 2011, Congress approved an electoral reform to simplify the registration process for all eligible voters, which increased the Chilean electorate by approximately 50.0%. Despite this increase in the number of eligible voters, the reform made voting voluntary (until then, voting was mandatory for registered electors) and, as a consequence, fewer people have voted in subsequent elections. As an example, in the first round of the presidential elections in 2009 (when voting was still mandatory), a total of 6,977,544 valid votes were cast, while in the first round of the presidential election held in 2013 (after voluntary voting was introduced), only 6,585,808 valid votes were cast. A similar decrease in the percentage of voters has been detected in municipal and congressional elections held since the promulgation of the reform.
In January 2015, Congress changed the system for the election of its members from a binomial voting system, in which each electoral territory elects two representatives regardless of its population, to a semi-proportional voting system, in which each voting district elects representatives in proportion to the size of its population. The number of members of the Chamber of Deputies will increase from 120 to 155 and the number of senators from 38 to 50. The reform is expected to result in greater access to Congress by candidates from smaller political parties. The new electoral system is expected to become effective prior to the next Congressional election in 2017.
Presidential and Congressional Elections
Presidential and congressional elections are held every four years. Chile will hold its next presidential and congressional elections in 2017, and the next presidential term is scheduled to begin in March 2018. The president is elected for a four-year term and is prohibited from serving in office for consecutive terms. Senators are elected for eight-year terms, with half the Senate’s seats up for election every four years. Members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected to four-year terms. There are no term limits for senators or deputies.
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The following tables detail the results of the presidential and congressional elections held since Chile’s return to democracy in 1989:
Presidential Election Vote
(in %)
| 1989 | 1993 | 1999 | 1999 | 2005 | 2005 | 2009 | 2009 | 2013 | 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Center-Left(2) | 55.2 | 58.0 | 48.0 | 51.3 | 46.0 | 53.5 | 29.6 | 48.4 | 46.7 | 62.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Center-Right(3) | 29.4 | 30.6 | (4) | 47.5 | 48.7 | 48.6 | (4) | 46.5 | 44.1 | 51.6 | 25.0 | 37.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Left | — | 4.7 | 3.2 | — | — | — | 6.2 | — | 15.0 | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Humanist and Green Parties | — | 6.7 | 1.0 | — | 5.4 | — | — | — | 2.4 | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Centrist Union | 15.4 | — | 0.4 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Independent | — | — | — | — | — | — | 20.1 | — | 10.9 | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (1) | The second round took place in January of the following year. |
| (2) | The center-left alliance changed its name from “Concertación” to “Nueva Mayoría” in 2013. For the 2013 presidential election, the center-left coalition included the Partido Demócrata Cristiano, the Partido Radical Socialdemócrata, the Partido por la Democracia, the Partido Socialista, the Partido Comunista and the Movimiento Amplio Social. |
| (3) | For the 2013 presidential election, the center-right coalition, Alianza por Chile, included Renovación Nacional and the Unión Demócrata Independiente. |
| (4) | Aggregate percentage of two center-right presidential candidates. |
Congressional Elections (Senate)
(in number of senators)
| 1989 | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2009 | 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido Demócrata Cristiano (Center) | 13 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido por la Democracia (Left) | 4 | 2 | — | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido Radical (Center-Left) | 2 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Renovación Nacional (Center-Right) | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Unión Demócrata Independiente (Right) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Independents | 12 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | — | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido Socialista (Left) | — | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Movimiento Amplio Social (Left) | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Congressional Elections (Chamber of Deputies)
(in number of deputies)
| 1989 | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2009 | 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido Demócrata Cristiano (Center) | 38 | 37 | 38 | 23 | 20 | 19 | 21 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido por la Democracia (Left) | 16 | 15 | 16 | 20 | 21 | 18 | 15 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido Radical (Center-Left) | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido Humanista (Left) | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Renovación Nacional (Center-Right) | 29 | 29 | 23 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 19 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Unión Demócrata Independiente (Right) | 11 | 15 | 17 | 31 | 33 | 37 | 29 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Independents | 18 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| P.A.I.S. (Left) | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido Socialista (Left) | — | 15 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 11 | 15 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Unión de Centro (Center) | — | 2 | 2 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido del Sur (Center-Right) | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido de Acción Regionalista (Center) | — | — | — | — | 1 | 3 | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido Comunista (Left) | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Partido Liberal (Center) | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The following table details the composition of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies as of December 31, 2015:
| Composition of Senate | Composition of Chamber of Deputies | |||||||||
| Nueva Mayoría (Center-Left) | 19 | Nueva Mayoría (Center-Left) | 64 | |||||||
| Alianza por Chile (Center-Right) | 14 | Alianza por Chile (Center-Right) | 44 | |||||||
| Others(1) | 5 | Others(1) | 12 | |||||||
| Total | 38 | Total | 120 | |||||||
| (1) | Includes deputies and senators that are independent (not members of a political party) and deputies of the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal) and the Independent Regionalist Party (Partido Regionalista Independiente, or PRI). |
Municipal Elections
There are 345 municipalities in Chile, each administered by a mayor and a municipal council, composed of 6, 8 or 10 councilors, depending on the number of electors in each municipality. Municipal elections are held every four years, with the most recent elections last held in October 2012 and the next elections scheduled to be held on October 23, 2016.
The following table details the results of the last mayoral elections by pact or alliance:
Municipal Elections 2012 — Mayors
| Votes | Percentage | |||||||
| Nueva Mayoría (Center-Left) | 2,114,148 | 38.14 | ||||||
| Alianza por Chile (Center-Right)(1) | 1,652,403 | 29.82 | ||||||
| Independents | 1,589,653 | 28.68 | ||||||
| Others(2) | 186,389 | 3.36 | ||||||
| Total | 5,542,593 | 100.00 | ||||||
| (1) | Alianza por Chile consisted of the National Renewal Party and the Independent Democratic Union. |
| (2) | Partido Liberal (Left), Partido Progresista (Left), Partido Ecologista Verde (Center-Left), Partido Regionalista de los Independientes (Center) and Partido Humanista (Left). |
Regional Elections
Chile is divided into 15 Regions, each of them governed by a regional governor designated by the president. Each Region is administered by a regional governor and a regional council that has to approve the regional development plan and the regional budget.
Regional councils have between 14 and 34 members, depending on the population of the Region. Until the enactment of Law No. 20,678 on June 13, 2013, members of regional councils were designated by members of the municipal councils. Since such date, members of regional councils are elected every four years for four-year terms. These elections coincide with municipal elections. The first election of regional council members took place in November 2013, and the next election is scheduled for 2017.
Regional Elections (Regional Council Members)
| 2013 | ||||
| Partido Demócrata Cristiano (Center) | 45 | |||
| Partido por la Democracia (Left) | 32 | |||
| Partido Radical (Center-Left) | 12 | |||
| Partido Regionalista de los Independientes (Center) | 2 | |||
| Renovación Nacional (Center-Right) | 41 | |||
| Unión Democráta Independiente (Right) | 46 | |||
| Independents | 52 | |||
| Partido Progresista (Center Left) | 2 | |||
| Partido Socialista (Left) | 33 | |||
| Partido Ecologista Verde (Center Left) | 1 | |||
| Partido Comunista (Left) | 12 | |||
| Total | 278 | |||
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International and Regional Relations
Chile maintains close ties with its neighboring countries as well as with the other Latin American countries. In recent years, Chile has been party to cases before the International Court of Justice as described below:
| · | On January 27, 2014, the International Court of Justice ruled in the dispute regarding the maritime boundary brought by Peru against Chile. In furtherance of the Court’s decision both countries jointly determined the precise coordinates of the maritime boundary and initiated the adoption of legislative amendments in conformity with the ruling and the law of the sea. |
| · | On April 24, 2013, Bolivia filed an application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) instituting proceedings against Chile in the matter entitled “Obligation to negotiate access to the Pacific Ocean.” On July 15, 2014, Chile filed a preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the court, which was dismissed on September 24, 2015. In addition, on that same ruling, the ICJ determined that it would not pass a judgment on the outcome of a future negotiation. Chile filed its counter-memorial on July 13, 2016. |
| · | On June 6, 2016, Chile instituted proceedings against Bolivia before the ICJ, requesting the Court to declare that the Silala River system is an international watercourse whose use by Chile and Bolivia is governed by customary international law and, consequently, Chile is entitled to equitable and reasonable use of the water. |
Chile is a member of or party to:
| · | the United Nations (UN), as a founding member, including many of its specialized agencies (Chile was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council from January 2003 until the end of 2004); |
| · | the Organization of American States (OAS); |
| · | the World Health Organization (WHO); |
| · | the World Trade Organization (WTO); |
| · | the International Labor Organization (ILO); |
| · | the International Monetary Fund (IMF); |
| · | the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank); |
| · | the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); |
| · | the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); |
| · | the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC); |
| · | the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR); |
| · | the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); and |
| · | the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). |
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Since 1994, Chile has been a member of, and an active participant in, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. In recent years, the Asia Pacific region has become a priority for Chilean trade policy. Chile has taken steps within the APEC framework to improve trade with the Asia pacific region, including mutual recognition agreements and free trade agreements.
In February 2003, the Chilean Central Bank formally became part of the credit arrangements known as the New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB), created by the IMF in 1998. The NAB serves as a mechanism to provide resources to countries facing a financial crisis. In October 2003, the Chilean Central Bank became a member of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The BIS is an international organization established in 1930 to pursue worldwide monetary and financial stability.
Chile also participates in several regional arrangements designed to promote cooperation in trade, investment and services. Chile is a member of the Latin American Integration Association (Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración, or ALADI), a regional trade association, and an associate member of the Mercado Común del Sur, or Mercosur, which is an economic and political trade bloc designed to promote free trade in Latin America. Chile is also party to a number of bilateral trade arrangements. See “Balance of Payments and Foreign Trade—Foreign Trade” for more information on these arrangements.
Before becoming an official member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Chile participated as an observer in the OECD for over a decade and became an active member of 20 OECD committees and working groups. In recognition of Chile’s sound policies, the OECD Board invited Chile to become a full member of the organization in May 2007. In September 2008, Chile submitted its Initial Memorandum in support of its membership application and, after completing the process for accession, Chile was invited to become a member on December 15, 2009. Chile’s membership in the OECD became effective on May 7, 2010. Upon joining this organization, Chile became its first South American member.
The Council’s Decision to invite Chile to become an OECD Member provided that, after accession, Chile should submit periodic reports to eight OECD Committees, listed below, or their subsidiary bodies and specify a timeline for the submission of these reports:
1. Investment Committee’s Working Party on International Investment Statistics;
2. Chemicals Committee;
3. Environment Policy Committee: Periodically, if required;
4. Steering Group on Corporate Governance;
5. Committee on Financial Markets;
6. Insurance and Private Pensions Committee;
7. Committee on Statistics; and
8. Trade Committee.
As of September 7, 2016, Chile submitted these reports, although due to the continuous nature of these reports, further reporting will be required, in particular to the Chemicals Committee, the Environment Policy Committee and the Corporate Governance Committee.
As a member of the OECD, Chile is committed to: (i) promoting the efficient use of its economic resources; (ii) incentivizing research, development and vocational training in the scientific and technological fields; (iii) implementing policies that target economic growth and internal and external financial stability and avoiding policies that hinder such growth and stability; (iv) reducing, and to the extent possible, abolishing any obstacles to the domestic and international exchange of goods, services and payments and liberalizing the flow of capital both within Chile and between Chile and other international market participants; and (v) contributing to the sustainable economic development of both member and non-member countries, in particular, through capital flows and technical assistance and providing access to export markets.
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Measures Implemented To Deter Terrorism and Money Laundering
Chile has supported initiatives against money laundering and terrorism financing promoted by various international organizations, including the UN, the OAS, the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT), the Inter-American Drug Abuse Commission (CICAD) and the OECD. Chile is a member of several of these organizations.
To this end, in 2001 President Lagos Escobar issued Supreme Decree No. 488, which requires all authorities and public institutions to ensure the observance and enforcement of UN Security Council resolution No. 1,373 and, in 2003, in compliance with the undertakings of the “International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism,” Chile modified its original counter-terrorism Law No. 18,314, enacted in 1984, by enacting Law No. 19,906, making the financing of terrorism a criminal offense.
In 2003, Law No. 19,913 was enacted to bolster the Chilean anti-money laundering regime by increasing the penalties for money laundering and expanding the number of criminal offenses deemed as underlying crimes for the purposes of the law, such as drug dealing, arms dealing, financial offenses or any form of terrorism, including the financing of terrorism. In addition, Law 19,913 created the Financial Analysis Unit (UAF), a governmental entity aimed at preventing the use of the financial system and other sectors of the economy for specified illegal activities, with a special focus on money laundering. It is responsible for gathering, processing and exchanging information related to suspected money laundering and financing of terrorist-related activities. If the UAF has reasonable belief that a financial operation is being used to launder money or to fund terrorist activities, it is required to promptly provide all relevant information to the Chilean prosecutors and courts. With the purpose of deterring money laundering, terrorism and its financing, the UAF along with other regulatory agencies, have instructed banks and other entities under their supervision to implement preventive models consistent with recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
In 2005, Law No. 20,000, a new Drug Act (Ley de Drogas y Estupefacientes) was enacted. This law contains measures to help detect money laundering by strengthening international judicial cooperation and the police’s powers of investigation.
In March 2006, the Superintendency of Banks and Financial Institutions (Superintendencia de Bancos e Instituciones Financieras, or SBIF) replaced its standards on the prevention of money laundering with the “Core principles for effective banking supervision” and “Customer due diligence standards for banks” established by the GAFILAT and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Many of these guidelines, however, had already been implemented in practice prior to the date of formal adoption.
In December 2009, Law No. 20,393 on Criminal Responsibility of Legal Entities for the Crimes of Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Offenses of Bribery entered into force. This law, which was promulgated in part to give effect to Chile’s obligations under certain international treaties, introduced a list of offenses for which private legal entities and state-owned enterprises can be held criminally liable (i.e., bribery of Chilean and foreign public officials, money laundering and financing of terrorism). Criminal liability for legal entities in the aforementioned cases is an exception to the general Chilean criminal law principle restricting criminal liability to individuals.
In December 2010, GAFILAT concluded its third round evaluation of Chile’s compliance with the FATF recommendations to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. In its report, GAFILAT provided recommendations for further improving compliance.
Accordingly, in December 2014, Congress amended Law No. 19,913 by Law No. 20,818, which became effective in February 2015. Law 20,818 includes public bodies as reporting entities, expands the spectrum of underlying crimes constituting money laundering and addresses other pending issues regarding the financing of terrorism, among other modifications.
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In 2013, Chile also adopted a National Strategy to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, and involved more than 20 public sector entities, including the Chilean Central Bank, the SBIF, the Superintendency of Pensions (Superintendencia de Pensiones, or SP), the Superintendency for Securities and Insurance (Superintendencia de Valores y Seguros, or SVS) and the Office of the National Public Prosecutor (Fiscal Nacional) in the deployment of the Strategy. The Strategy includes five lines of work and 50 specific tasks that will be developed until 2017.
On May 28, 2015, an administrative procedure was implemented to facilitate the preventive freezing of assets by the Financial Analysis Unit, which seeks to strengthen preventive action against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In addition, Chile approved Resolution 2,253, issued on December 17, 2015, of the United Nations Security Council, of which it was a member until December 31, 2015, to strengthen measures against terrorist organizations.
Chile has also adopted criteria to define Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) in an effort to avoid the corruption of senior government officials. All entities supervised by the UAF are required to register all transactions involving PEPs and report any suspicious operations.
On December 16, 2015, President Bachelet implemented measures to comply with the UN Security Council’s resolutions related to Al-Qaeda and associated persons and entities, and the prevention, combat and financing of terrorism. Such measures allow, among other things, (i) gathering information about suspect persons, groups, undertakings and entities, reporting any relevant findings to the UN Security Council; (ii) preventive freezing of assets belonging to persons, groups, undertakings and entities included in the UN Security Council’s lists of persons, groups, undertakings and entities associated with terrorism; (iii) the requirement for certain natural and legal persons to periodically review the UN Security Council’s lists and to immediately report the identification of any person, undertaking or entity signaled in those lists.
On July 19, 2016, the Intersectorial Committee on the Prevention and Combat against Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism was created (Intersectorial Committee). The Intersectorial Committee is entrusted with the mission of advising and coordinating the actions, plans and programs of the different institutional actors in matters related to the prevention, detection and prosecution of money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Earthquakes and Other Natural Disasters
Chile lies on the Nazca tectonic plate, making it one of the world’s most seismically active regions. From time to time, Chile is affected by earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, fires and other natural disasters that require investment of public funds to restore damage suffered by private and public properties and the adoption of extraordinary emergency measures to address the special needs of the affected population. Chile has been adversely affected by powerful earthquakes in the past, including an 8.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Santiago in 1985 and a 9.5 magnitude earthquake in 1960, which was the largest earthquake ever recorded.
On February 27, 2010, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck south-central Chile. The quake epicenter was located 200 miles southwest of Santiago and 70 miles north of Concepción, Chile’s second largest city. The earthquake triggered a tsunami in south-central coastal areas. Due to the severity of the earthquake and its devastating consequences, on February 28, 2010, the government declared a “state of catastrophe” in the Maule and Bío Bío Regions for a 30-day period. On March 11, 2010, a “state of catastrophe” was also declared in the Libertador General Bernardo O’Higgins Region for a 20-day period. Significant aftershocks followed the initial earthquake, including aftershocks of 6.2, 5.4 and 5.6 magnitudes within an hour of the initial earthquake, aftershocks of 6.9, 6.7 and 6.0 magnitudes on March 11, 2010 and a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on March 13, 2010. The official death toll from the earthquake and tsunami was 525.
The Bío Bío and Maule Regions were the most severely affected Regions. Concepción, located approximately 200 miles south of Santiago, was the most affected city, with its infrastructure and numerous buildings severely damaged. The coastal area of Concepción, including the neighboring cities of Talcahuano and Penco, were hit by a tsunami shortly after the earthquake that significantly damaged port facilities. Several cities in the Maule Region, including its capital city of Talca, were also seriously affected by the earthquake. The Valparaíso Region, including the port of Valparaíso and the city of Viña del Mar, was also severely affected. Region VI suffered serious damage as a result of the 7.2 magnitude quake on March 13, 2010, which forced President Sebastián Piñera to declare a “state of catastrophe” in that Region. Rancagua, the capital city of Region VI, located approximately 56 miles from Santiago, also suffered significant damage.
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The earthquake and its aftershocks, as well as tsunamis from adjacent coastal waters, caused severe damage to Chile’s infrastructure, including roads, bridges, ports and Santiago’s international airport. Total infrastructure damage from this catastrophe has been estimated to be US$21 billion, of which US$10.4 billion corresponded to private sector infrastructure and US$10.6 billion to public sector infrastructure. In 2010, the government estimated that public spending of US$8.4 billion would be needed between 2010 and 2013 for the government’s reconstruction efforts, as further described below, including tax revenues, budget reassignments, tapping into the copper reserves fund, donations, among other funding sources.
A US$8.4 billion reconstruction plan, presented to the Chamber of Deputies in May 2010, allocated resources as follows: housing: 27.4%; health system: 25.4%; education: 14.3%; public works: 13.9%; other: 19.0%. The Ministry of Finance funded the reconstruction plan from a variety of sources, including a US$730 million reallocation of public expenditures. The government also encouraged private donations to help the reconstruction efforts. A law on donations (Law No. 20,444) created tax credits for donations to a reconstruction fund managed by the government.
In addition, in July 2010, Law No. 20,455, the Reconstruction Financing Law, was approved by Congress. Highlights of the initiatives contained in this law include:
| · | The first category tax, applied to businesses, was increased from the then-current 17.0% to 20.0% during 2011. |
| · | The real estate tax rate was increased by 0.275%. This tax applies to property with a fiscal value exceeding approximately US$180,000, which represents approximately 1.5% of Chile’s real estate. |
| · | The tax on tobacco sales was increased from 50.4% to 62.3%, and a tax of approximately US$0.10 per package of 20 cigarettes was levied. |
| · | Tax deferral treatment of certain voluntary social security deposits (depósitos convenidos) was limited to approximately US$35,000 per year. |
| · | Restrictions were placed on the use of tax exemptions for income derived from lease payments, which had historically been permitted by the special tax regime of Decree with Force of Law No. 2 of 1959, applicable to homes complying with certain legal requirements. |
Mining royalties were also amended as part of the government’s reconstruction efforts. In October 2010, Congress made mining operators with annual sales over 50,000 metric tons of fine copper subject to a tiered tax, which ranges from 5.0% to 34.5% of operating margin, depending on annual sales revenues of fine copper, and replaced the 5.0% fixed rate tax established in 2005.
Ministry of Women and Gender Equality
On March 20, 2015, Law No. 20,820 was published in the Official Gazette, creating the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality (Ministerio de la Mujer y la Equidad de Género), which became fully operational in March 2016. This ministry is tasked with designing, coordinating and evaluating policies, plans and programs to promote gender equality and equal rights, and eliminating arbitrary discrimination against women.
Additionally, Law No. 20,820 created an Inter-ministerial Committee for Equal Rights and Gender Equality, which is composed of 14 ministers. This committee is mandated to assist in the implementation of policies, plans and programs that promote equal rights between men and women.
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History and Background
Chile is a country rich in natural resources and its economy has historically been oriented towards the export of primary products. During the international economic crisis of the 1930s, however, the market for Chilean exports collapsed and international capital markets were closed to Chilean borrowers. In response to this, successive governments sought to reduce Chile’s dependence on foreign trade by implementing import substitution policies designed to promote domestic industries and discourage imports. The strategy was supplemented by giving the state a role in the development of key sectors, including electricity and steel. As a result of these policies, the government’s role in the economy expanded in the decades that followed.
Government policy was eventually liberalized and, between 1964 and 1966, the administration of President Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964 to 1970) lowered external tariffs and greatly reduced other non-administrative import barriers. In addition, the administration sought to professionalize Chile’s monetary policy by recruiting career economists to the Chilean Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance. Despite these more liberal economic policies, Chile’s economy remained heavily regulated into the late 1960s.
The socialist government of President Allende (1970 to 1973) greatly increased the government’s role in the economy by implementing a wide-ranging nationalization program, expanding the agrarian reform process that was started by previous governments, and rapidly increasing government expenditure and money supply. By 1973, inflation reached an annual rate of more than 500.0%, industrial output fell by more than 6.0% and the Chilean Central Bank’s foreign exchange reserves stood at slightly over US$40 million.
Following the military coup d’etat in 1973, the military government led by General Augusto Pinochet (1973 to 1990) introduced economic reforms designed to open the economy to foreign investment, liberalize foreign trade and reduce the central government’s size and influence on the economy by, among other things, eliminating long-standing and widespread price controls and undertaking a significant privatization program. Although the military government succeeded in reducing inflation, eliminating budget deficits and initiating an economic recovery, in the early 1980s, Chile underwent a severe recession due largely to a global recession, a worsening of the terms of trade, a decrease in the availability of external credit, weak banking sector regulation, real wage inflexibility and the abandonment of the currency peg which quickly led to the depreciation of the peso and an external debt and domestic banking crisis. In 1982, real GDP fell 13.4% compared to the previous year. In 1983, real GDP further decreased 3.5% and unemployment peaked at 20.5% (excluding the effects of certain ad hoc emergency employment programs developed by the government). From 1984 to 1989, however, the government’s liberalizing economic policies resulted in increased exports, average GDP growth of 6.7% per year, a 66.6% reduction in the current account deficit, and a steady rise in international reserves.
In addition, in 1985, the government initiated a far-reaching privatization program of state-owned companies. These economic policies and the government’s expansionary monetary policy led to an approximately 22.8% increase in domestic spending for the two-year period from 1987 to 1989, which in turn led to a rise in inflation. When President Patricio Aylwin took office in 1990, his administration implemented a macroeconomic policy designed to correct these economic imbalances.
The Concertación coalition governments of Presidents Patricio Aylwin (1990 to 1994), Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1994 to 2000), Ricardo Lagos (2000 to 2006), and Michelle Bachelet (2006 to 2010) all sought to provide stability and economic growth to Chile while fostering social development. Concertación coalition administrations consistently promoted free-market economic principles, including the protection of private property, the subsidiary role of the state in economic activity, free trade, open and fair competition, and sound macroeconomic, banking and financial regulation policies.
In 2009, a center-right coalition, “Coalición por el cambio,” led by Sebastián Piñera won the presidential elections for the period from 2010 to 2014. President Piñera’s administration sought to strengthen the Chilean economy and increase economic growth by expanding the investment rate, improving capital markets regulation and enhancing labor productivity through human capital investment, the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship, and by modernizing the state. Additionally, the Piñera administration adhered to a sustainable fiscal policy, guided by a rule referred to as the “Structural Balance Policy Rule,” which was first adopted in 2001. In 2010, the government appointed a special commission to assess the then-prevailing fiscal balance pursuant to a new methodology, which revealed a structural fiscal deficit of 2.0% of GDP. See “Public Sector Finances—Public Sector Accounts and Fiscal Statistics.”
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Michelle Bachelet was elected to the presidency in 2013 for a second term of four years, which will end on March 11, 2018. Ms. Bachelet won the elections supported by the center-left coalition Nueva Mayoría. In 2015, the structural fiscal deficit stood at 1.6% of GDP and the government projects it will equal 1.4% of GDP in 2016. While the Bachelet administration’s initial target was to reach a structural balance (0.0% of GDP) by 2018 by relying on increased tax revenues generated by the 2014 tax reform, as a result of changes in structural variables and external conditions, the government currently contemplates a reduction of the structural deficit by approximately 0.25% per year, starting in 2016. See “Public Sector Finances—Public Sector Accounts and Fiscal Statistics.” In addition to the tax reform, in 2014 and the beginning of 2015, President Bachelet focused on electoral and educational reforms. On July 4, 2016, the Bachelet administration submitted a draft bill to Congress providing for the progressive implementation of free access to college and university.
Macroeconomic Performance (1990 — 2008)
The Chilean economy grew by an average of 8.0% per year between 1990 and 1998. In 1999, as a result of the 1997 Asian crisis and the abandonment of the crawling exchange rate band, the Chilean economy experienced a recession. Despite relatively strong growth in 2000 (4.5%), turmoil in the international financial markets, low copper prices and the Argentine currency and debt crisis of 2001 to 2002 combined to slow the pace of growth in Chile to 2.2% in 2001 and 3.4% in 2002. The policies implemented to give effect to the structural balance rule introduced in 2001 were instrumental in helping the economy accelerate its growth rate. See “Public Sector Finances—Public Sector Accounts and Fiscal Statistics—Fiscal Policy Framework—Structural Balance Policy Rule.” In 2003, the economy grew by 3.9% and by 7.0% in 2004, 6.2% in 2005, 5.7% in 2006, 5.2% in 2007 and 3.3% in 2008. This was accompanied by an improvement in the terms of trade, driven mainly by the price of copper, which rose from an average of US$0.707 per pound in 2002 to US$1.669 in 2005, and US$3.049, US$3.229 and US$3.155 in 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively. Increased copper prices helped the Chilean Sovereign Wealth Funds (the Pension Reserve Fund, or FRP, by its Spanish acronym, and the Economic and Social Stabilization Fund, or FEES, by its Spanish acronym) accumulate savings which stood at US$22.7 billion as of the end of 2008. See “Public Sector Finances—Fiscal Responsibility Law.”
Global Financial Crisis — Economic Performance and Policies of 2008 and 2009
Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2008, global trends began to negatively affect Chile’s macroeconomic performance, including the contraction in available external financing, increases in premiums for credit risk, significant capital outflows from emerging markets, reductions in interest rates on U.S. Treasury bonds, lower commodity prices, including copper (US$1.39 per pound in December 2008, compared to US$3.17 per pound in September 2008) and fluctuation in the value of the dollar against other major currencies. These factors resulted in a significant slowdown in output (from 4.7% to 1.4%) and demand (from 9.9% to 1.2%) in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007. The export sector was similarly affected, with the terms of trade deteriorating by 27.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007. GDP growth in 2008 was 3.3% compared to 5.2% during 2007. Domestic consumption grew 5.2% in 2008 compared to 7.6% in 2007. This decrease resulted from a significant reduction in the demand for new cars, capital goods, new homes and inventories. The sectors that were most affected were retail, manufacturing and construction.
In an effort to combat the effects of the global financial crisis and ensure sufficient liquidity in the economy, in October 2008, the Chilean Central Bank suspended its program of U.S. dollar reserve accumulation, implemented U.S. dollar repurchase transactions with weekly auctions of US$500 million and permitted banks to use currencies in addition to U.S. dollars to meet their foreign currency reserve requirements for a period of six months.
In light of global economic conditions, at the beginning of January 2009, the government implemented a stimulus plan aimed at boosting employment and economic growth. This fiscal package, equivalent to 2.1% of GDP (US$4.0 billion), sought to create conditions that would allow the economy to grow in 2009 and, directly and indirectly, create more than 100,000 jobs. See “—Employment and Labor—Employment.” The stimulus package included: subsidies to individuals and families, additional investments in public infrastructure, tax cuts, improved access to financing for small- and medium-sized businesses, additional capitalization of state-owned enterprises (including a US$1 billion investment in Codelco), and other initiatives to incentivize private investment, such as a US$700 million public investment plan for rural and urban roads and housing and irrigation projects aimed at supporting employment in the construction sector.
| D-17 |
Primarily as a result of the fiscal stimulus plan, in 2009, government expenditures grew by 17.8%, while central government real revenue fell by 23.2% as compared to 2008 due to decreases from net tax collection and gross copper revenue, mainly from Codelco. In 2009, the government recorded an effective deficit of 4.5% of GDP and a structural deficit of 1.1% of GDP. See “Public Sector Finances—Public Sector Accounts and Fiscal Statistics—Fiscal Policy Framework—Structural Balance Policy Rule.” Financing sources for the deficit came from the issuance of government bonds in the local market, as authorized in the 2009 budget law, and from withdrawals from the FEES. Withdrawals from the FEES in 2009 included: US$8.0 billion to help finance part of the stimulus plan and the fiscal deficit caused by the drop in both tax revenues and income from Codelco; US$441 million to pay down public debt; and US$837 million for payment into the FRP. Total withdrawals from the FEES in 2009 were US$9.3 billion. See “Public Sector Finances—Fiscal Responsibility Law—Economic and Social Stabilization Fund.”
The government sought to mitigate the effect on the exchange rate of the inflow of dollars related to the government’s withdrawal from the FEES by using domestic borrowing to finance the deficit and launching a process of daily auctions intended to provide the market with a framework of predictable and transparent sales. Expenditures in pesos under the stimulus plan (equivalent to approximately US$3 billion), were financed through daily auctions of US$50 million held between March 27 and June 23, 2009. Subsequently, auctions of US$40 million were held daily from July 1 to November 20, 2009, for a total of US$4 billion.
Gross Domestic Product (2010 to the Present)
In 2010, GDP grew by 5.8% mainly due to an increase in the growth of domestic consumption from a year-on-year decrease of 0.8% in 2009 to a year-on-year increase of 9.7% in 2010, a year-on-year increase in investment of 11.6% in 2010 from a year-on-year decrease of 12.1% in 2009, and a year-on-year increase of 2.3% in exports in 2010 from a year-on-year decrease of 4.5% in 2009. In 2010, the average price of copper increased to US$3.42 per pound compared to US$2.34 per pound in 2009, which resulted in improved international terms of trade. Chile’s economic recovery in 2010 was partially offset by the negative impact of the earthquake and tsunami of February 27, 2010. See “Republic of Chile—Earthquakes and Other Natural Disasters.”
During 2011, GDP grew by 5.8% as compared to 2010. Aggregate domestic demand increased by 9.4%, gross fixed capital formation increased by 15.0%, consumption increased by 7.8%, exports increased by 5.5% and imports increased by 16.0%.
During 2012, GDP grew by 5.5% as compared to 2011. Aggregate domestic demand increased by 7.3%, gross fixed capital formation increased by 11.6%, consumption increased by 5.7% (mainly driven by an increase in private consumption), exports increased by 0.1% and imports increased by 4.8%.
During 2013, GDP grew by 4.0% as compared to 2012. Aggregate domestic demand increased by 3.6%, private consumption increased by 5.5%, gross fixed capital formation increased by 2.2%, exports increased by 3.9% and imports increased by 1.4%. Although exports were higher in 2013, lower private consumption in comparison with 2012 resulted in a slower rate of GDP growth.
During 2014, GDP grew by 1.9% as compared to 2013. Although consumption increased by 2.4% and exports increased by 1.1%, aggregate domestic demand decreased by 0.3%, gross fixed capital formation decreased by 4.2% and imports decreased by 5.7%.
| D-18 |
During 2015, GDP grew by 2.1% as compared to 2014. Aggregate domestic demand increased by 1.8%, private consumption increased by 1.5%, gross fixed capital formation decreased by 1.5%, exports decreased by 1.8% and imports decreased by 3.3%.
Economic Performance Indicators
The following table sets forth certain macroeconomic performance indicators for the fiscal quarters indicated:
| Current Account (millions of US$) | GDP Growth (in %) | Domestic Demand Growth (in %) | ||||||||||
| 2011 | ||||||||||||
| First quarter | 954.3 | 9.5 | 15.0 | |||||||||
| Second quarter | 230.8 | 5.5 | 9.3 | |||||||||
| Third quarter | (3,292.9 | ) | 3.3 | 8.5 | ||||||||
| Fourth quarter | (980.1 | ) | 5.3 | 5.7 | ||||||||
| 2012 | ||||||||||||
| First quarter | (177.3 | ) | 4.8 | 4.5 | ||||||||
| Second quarter | (1,443.9 | ) | 6.1 | 7.0 | ||||||||
| Third quarter | (4,918.5 | ) | 5.9 | 8.8 | ||||||||
| Fourth quarter | (2,835.7 | ) | 5.1 | 8.7 | ||||||||
| 2013 | ||||||||||||
| First quarter | (1,875.7 | ) | 5.0 | 8.2 | ||||||||
| Second quarter | (1,887.8 | ) | 3.6 | 4.1 | ||||||||
| Third quarter | (4,190.7 | ) | 4.4 | 0.7 | ||||||||
| Fourth quarter | (2,357.3 | ) | 3.0 | 1.8 | ||||||||
| 2014 | ||||||||||||
| First quarter | (476.0 | ) | 2.7 | (0.2 | ) | |||||||
| Second quarter | 64.6 | 2.3 | 0.2 | |||||||||
| Third quarter | (1,761.2 | ) | 0.9 | (0.7 | ) | |||||||
| Fourth quarter | (1,143.9 | ) | 1.6 | (0.5 | ) | |||||||
| 2015 | ||||||||||||
| First quarter | 413.1 | 2.7 | 1.0 | |||||||||
| Second quarter | (220.8 | ) | 2.1 | 1.9 | ||||||||
| Third quarter | (2,873.8 | ) | 2.2 | 3.3 | ||||||||
| Fourth quarter | (2,079.9 | ) | 1.3 | 1.0 | ||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
The following tables present GDP and expenditures measured at current prices and in chained volume at previous year prices, each for the periods indicated:
GDP and Expenditures
(at current prices for period indicated, in billions of Chilean pesos)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| GDP | 121,319 | 129,028 | 137,230 | 147,568 | 157,131 | |||||||||||||||
| Aggregate Domestic Demand | 117,493 | 129,284 | 138,298 | 146,255 | 157,561 | |||||||||||||||
| Gross Fixed Capital Formation | 27,132 | 31,044 | 32,684 | 33,964 | 35,708 | |||||||||||||||
| Change in Inventories | 1,653 | 1,900 | 855 | (1,263 | ) | (392 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Total Consumption | 88,708 | 96,339 | 104,759 | 113,553 | 122,245 | |||||||||||||||
| Private Consumption | 74,018 | 80,665 | 87,539 | 94,356 | 101,141 | |||||||||||||||
| Government Consumption | 14,691 | 15,674 | 17,220 | 19,197 | 21,104 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Exports | 46,163 | 44,266 | 44,319 | 49,313 | 47,222 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Imports | 42,336 | 44,522 | 45,388 | 47,999 | 47,652 | |||||||||||||||
| Net Exports | 3,826 | (256 | ) | (1,069 | ) | 1,314 | (430 | ) | ||||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
| D-19 |
GDP and Expenditure
(chained volume at previous year prices, in billions of Chilean pesos)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| GDP | 103,955 | 109,628 | 113,987 | 116,126 | 118,525 | |||||||||||||||
| Aggregate Domestic Demand | 107,732 | 115,608 | 119,725 | 119,325 | 121,460 | |||||||||||||||
| Gross Fixed Capital Formation | 26,157 | 29,196 | 29,841 | 28,581 | 28,142 | |||||||||||||||
| Change in Inventories | 909 | 1,163 | 221 | (1,402 | ) | (771 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Total Consumption | 80,666 | 85,250 | 89,662 | 92,146 | 94,088 | |||||||||||||||
| Private Consumption | 68,319 | 72,466 | 76,430 | 78,245 | 79,382 | |||||||||||||||
| Government Consumption | 12,346 | 12,784 | 13,232 | 13,901 | 14,706 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Exports | 33,117 | 33,712 | 35,021 | 35,729 | 35,069 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Imports | 39,395 | 42,211 | 42,815 | 40,362 | 39,049 | |||||||||||||||
| Net Exports | (6,278 | ) | (8,499 | ) | (7,794 | ) | (4,633 | ) | (3,980 | ) | ||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
Composition of Demand
The primary component of aggregate demand is private consumption, which as a percentage of GDP, increased from 61.0% in 2011 to 64.4% in 2015. Another key component of demand, gross fixed capital formation, increased from 22.4% of GDP in 2011 to 24.1% of GDP in 2012, decreasing to 23.8% of GDP in 2013, 23.0% of GDP in 2014 and 22.7% of GDP in 2015.
The following table presents GDP by categories of aggregate demand:
GDP by Aggregate Demand
(percent of total GDP, except as indicated)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| GDP (in billions of pesos) | 121,319 | 129,028 | 137,230 | 147,568 | 157,131 | |||||||||||||||
| Domestic Absorption | 96.8 | 100.2 | 100.8 | 99.1 | 100.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Consumption | 73.1 | 74.7 | 76.3 | 76.9 | 77.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Private Consumption | 61.0 | 62.5 | 63.8 | 63.9 | 64.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Government Consumption | 12.1 | 12.1 | 12.5 | 13.0 | 13.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Change in inventories | 1.4 | 1.5 | 0.6 | (0.9 | ) | (0.2 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Gross Fixed Capital Formation | 22.4 | 24.1 | 23.8 | 23.0 | 22.7 | |||||||||||||||
| Exports of goods and services | 38.1 | 34.3 | 2.3 | 33.4 | 30.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Imports of goods and services | 34.9 | 34.5 | 3.1 | 32.5 | 30.3 | |||||||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
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Savings and Investment
Between 2011 and 2015, total gross savings (or domestic gross investment) decreased as a percentage of GDP as a consequence of a decrease in national savings. Between 2011 and 2015, the decrease in national savings was partially offset by positive external savings (as reduced by the current account deficit).
Savings and Investment
(% of GDP)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| National Savings | 22.5 | 22.0 | 20.7 | 20.9 | 20.4 | |||||||||||||||
| External Savings | 1.2 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 2.1 | |||||||||||||||
Total Gross Savings or Domestic Gross Investment | 23.7 | 25.5 | 24.4 | 22.2 | 22.5 | |||||||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank
Principal Sectors of the Economy
The Chilean economy, with a GDP of US$251 billion in 2011, US$265.1 billion in 2012, US$277.2 billion in 2013, US$258.9 in 2014 and US$240.2 in 2015 each as calculated based on the average exchange rate for the applicable year, has considerable natural resources, a modern export-oriented manufacturing sector and a sophisticated services sector.
The earthquake and tsunami that occurred on February 27, 2010 caused severe damage to productive assets in areas of the country important to Chile’s economy. This contraction in output was largely caused by the earthquake and tsunami’s effect on industrial output and on the manufacturing sector in particular, which suffered damage to its infrastructure, machinery and equipment and experienced an increase in lost workdays among absent employees. The manufacturing sub-sectors most affected were paper and printing products; foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco; metal products, machinery and equipment and miscellaneous manufacturing; and chemical, petroleum, rubber and plastic products. The primary sector was also severely affected by the earthquake and tsunami. The fishing industry suffered significant damage to vessels and processing infrastructure, while the agriculture industry experienced the destruction of storage facilities, and water restraints caused by damage to irrigation infrastructure. The services sub-sectors most significantly and adversely affected by the earthquake and tsunami were transport and personal services.
In 2011, GDP grew by 5.8%, primarily driven by marked increases in gross fixed capital formation and private consumption. Most of Chile’s productive sectors, including in particular agriculture, forestry and fishing, recorded significant growth. This growth was mainly due to domestic absorption, which reached 96.8% of GDP in 2011, compared to 93.6% in 2010.
In 2012, GDP grew by 5.5%, mainly due to a 6.5% increase in the services sector and a 2.6% increase in the primary sector. In line with 2011 results, this growth was principally driven by domestic absorption, which reached 100.2% of GDP, and private consumption, which totaled 62.5% of GDP.
In 2013, GDP grew by 4.0%, driven mainly by a 4.3% increase in the services sector and a 4.5% increase in the primary sector. Domestic absorption reached 100.8% of GDP, and private consumption totaled 63.8% of GDP.
In 2014, GDP grew by 1.9%, primarily as a result of a 1.5% increase in the primary sector and a 2.5% increase in the services sector, while the manufacturing sector contracted by 0.8% primarily due to decreases in foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco, in metal products, machinery and equipment, and in textile, cloth and leather production. Growth in 2014 was driven by domestic absorption, which reached 99.1% of GDP, and private consumption totaled 63.9% of GDP. The domestic absorption rate in 2014 was primarily supported by the increase in total consumption, which represented 76.9% of GDP.
In 2015, GDP grew by 1.9%, primarily as a result of a 2.4% increase in the services sector and a 1.8% increase in the manufacturing sector. Growth in 2015 was mainly driven by domestic absorption, which reached 100.3% of GDP. The domestic absorption rate in 2015 was primarily supported by the increase in total consumption, which totaled 77.8% of GDP.
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The following tables present the components of Chile’s GDP and their respective growth rates for the periods indicated:
Nominal GDP by Sector
(% of GDP, except as indicated)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| PRIMARY SECTOR: | 18.2 | 15.7 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 12.6 | |||||||||||||||
| Agriculture, livestock and forestry | 2.8 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 2.9 | |||||||||||||||
| Fishing | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 | |||||||||||||||
| Mining | 14.9 | 12.8 | 11.1 | 11.2 | 9.0 | |||||||||||||||
| Copper | 13.3 | 11.3 | 9.8 | 10.0 | 8.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Other | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.9 | |||||||||||||||
| MANUFACTURING SECTOR: | 11.0 | 10.8 | 10.8 | 10.7 | 10.9 | |||||||||||||||
| Foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Textiles, clothing and leather | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | |||||||||||||||
| Wood products and furniture | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | |||||||||||||||
| Paper and printing products | 1.3 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Chemicals, petroleum, rubber and plastic products | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Non-metallic mineral products and base metal products | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | |||||||||||||||
| Metal products, machinery and equipment and miscellaneous manufacturing | 1.8 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 1.8 | |||||||||||||||
| SERVICES SECTOR: | 62.6 | 64.9 | 66.5 | 66.2 | 67.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Electricity, oil and gas and water | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 2.5 | |||||||||||||||
| Construction | 6.9 | 7.4 | 7.7 | 7.5 | 7.6 | |||||||||||||||
| Trade and catering | 9.5 | 9.9 | 10.3 | 10.4 | 10.5 | |||||||||||||||
| Transport | 3.9 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.9 | |||||||||||||||
| Communications | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 1.5 | |||||||||||||||
| Financial services | 17.7 | 18.7 | 18.9 | 18.4 | 18.7 | |||||||||||||||
| Housing | 4.8 | 5.0 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 5.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal services | 10.8 | 11.1 | 11.6 | 11.8 | 12.0 | |||||||||||||||
| Public administration | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Subtotal | 91.8 | 91.4 | 91.5 | 91.4 | 91.2 | |||||||||||||||
| Net adjustments for payments made by financial institutions, VAT and import tariffs | 8.2 | 8.6 | 8.5 | 8.6 | 8.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Total GDP | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | |||||||||||||||
| Nominal GDP (millions of Pesos) | Ps.121,319,462 | Ps.129,027,553 | Ps.137,229,576 | Ps.147,568,108 | Ps.157,130,884 | |||||||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
| D-22 |
Change in GDP by Sector
(% change from previous year, except as indicated)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| PRIMARY SECTOR: | (2.1 | ) | 2.6 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 0.6 | ||||||||||||||
| Agriculture, livestock and forestry | 10.5 | (5.6 | ) | 2.6 | (4.5 | ) | 5.6 | |||||||||||||
| Fishing | 21.3 | 21.2 | (13.2 | ) | 6.9 | (3.2 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Mining | (5.2 | ) | 3.8 | 5.5 | 2.5 | (0.2 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Copper | (6.2 | ) | 3.9 | 5.9 | 2.7 | (0.1 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Other | 6.6 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 1.2 | (1.4 | ) | ||||||||||||||
| MANUFACTURING SECTOR: | 7.6 | 3.6 | 1.5 | (0.8 | ) | 1.8 | ||||||||||||||
| Foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco | 9.7 | 5.6 | (0.4 | ) | (1.0 | ) | 2.4 | |||||||||||||
| Textiles, clothing and leather | 9.3 | 10.3 | 4.5 | (5.4 | ) | (4.5 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Wood products and furniture | 10.9 | (0.5 | ) | 4.6 | 3.3 | 1.5 | ||||||||||||||
| Paper and printing products | 10.1 | 3.4 | 2.6 | (1.5 | ) | 0.2 | ||||||||||||||
| Chemicals, petroleum, rubber and plastic | ||||||||||||||||||||
| products | 0.0 | 2.4 | 4.6 | 2.3 | 3.6 | |||||||||||||||
| Non-metallic mineral products and base metal products | 17.6 | (4.5 | ) | 3.8 | (2.1 | ) | 0.4 | |||||||||||||
| Metal products, machinery and equipment and miscellaneous manufacturing | 4.7 | 4.0 | (1.9 | ) | (2.7 | ) | 1.7 | |||||||||||||
| SERVICES SECTOR: | 7.8 | 6.4 | 4.3 | 2.5 | 2.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Electricity, oil and gas and water | 11.7 | 8.4 | 6.0 | 4.0 | 1.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Construction | 6.8 | 7.2 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 2.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Trade and catering | 12.1 | 6.7 | 6.8 | 0.4 | 0.6 | |||||||||||||||
| Transport | 6.7 | 11.0 | 6.3 | 2.8 | 2.7 | |||||||||||||||
| Communications | 7.7 | 7.5 | 6.8 | 7.3 | 7.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Financial Services | 8.8 | 6.6 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 2.5 | |||||||||||||||
| Housing | 2.5 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.7 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal Services | 7.0 | 5.3 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 2.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Public Administration | 0.7 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 3.4 | 3.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Subtotal | 6.0 | 5.5 | 4.3 | 2.0 | 2.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Net adjustments for payments made by financial institutions, VAT and import tariffs | 8.9 | 6.9 | 4.2 | 1.5 | 2.0 | |||||||||||||||
| Total GDP | 5.8 | 5.5 | 4.0 | 1.9 | 2.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Real GDP (chained volume at previous year prices) | Ps.103,954,673 | Ps.109,627,615 | Ps.113,987,063 | Ps.116,125,911 | Ps.118,525,235 | |||||||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
| D-23 |
Primary Sector
The Chilean economy’s primary sector is significant due to the size of its direct contribution to GDP (14.2% in 2013, 14.3% in 2014, and 12.6% in 2015), and its role as a supplier of inputs to the manufacturing sector.
Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry
Agricultural production consists primarily of fruit, which includes fruit concentrates, table grapes, apples, pears, nectarines, prunes, lemons, avocados, berries, cherries and peaches.
The characteristics of Chile’s climate, botany and soil give the country a comparative advantage in the forestry sector. In 2013, the date of Chile’s most recent forestry census, forests covered 17.3 million hectares, making up approximately 22.9% of Chile’s surface area, and forest plantations covered approximately 3 million hectares, or 3.9% of Chile’s surface area.
This sector contributed US$5.1 billion in exports during 2015, or 8.2% of exports by value, compared to US$5.5 billion, or 7.3%, during 2014.
Fishing
Chile ranks among the foremost fishing nations in the world, with an estimated annual catch for 2015 of 2.2 million tons, of which sea-caught products accounted for 74.2%, while aquaculture accounted for 25.8%. Chile’s main products include anchovies, horse mackerel and sardines.
In less than a decade, Chile has become a leading farmed salmon and trout producer and exporter. Climatic conditions around the Chiloé and Aysén Regions, including water that is continually replenished from both the Antarctic currents and run-off from the Andes, provide an ideal environment for a year-round fish farming industry. In 2009, salmon production was adversely affected by the infectious salmon anemia, or ISA, virus, which affected numerous breeds and multiple production sites. Producers and other affected companies downsized their labor force and, in many cases, had to restructure their debt. In response, the government launched a support plan for this sector, including improvements in the applicable regulations and access to US$120 million in financial support for producers. In addition, the National Fishing Authority (Servicio Nacional de Pesca, or SERNAPESCA) formed a committee of virology experts and representatives of the salmon industry to study the causes of the virus and devise a plan to limit its spread. In 2010, total Atlantic salmon annual production amounted to 123.2 thousand tons, a 39% decrease compared to 2009, which had decreased as a result of the ISA virus and the earthquake and tsunami of 2010. The Atlantic salmon sector began its recovery during 2011, reaching a total production of 551.8 thousand tons in 2014, exceeding the pre-crisis production level of 2008.
| D-24 |
The Fishing Act of 1991 introduced the concept of sustainable use and was amended in April 2010 by Law No. 20,434 in response to environmental concerns over the use of medicines and pesticides on aquafarms and the production of large volumes of waste. The amended Fishing Act also empowered SERNAPESCA to create a registry of legal entities and individuals authorized to perform environmental and sanitation evaluation services, as well as to issue certificates of compliance with the Fishing Act.
On February 9, 2013, Congress enacted Law No. 20,657 amending the Fishing Act to address the issue of long-term sustainability of fishing activities in light of the permanent and growing challenges presented by the overexploitation of fishing resources. The efficiency and implementation of the conservation measures and fishing management will be assessed every five years based on the following criteria: ecosystem protection, transparency, the avoidance of heavy exploitation and an audit process, among other factors.
Mining
Chile has large reserves of metallic and non-metallic mineral resources and is the world’s largest producer of copper. In 2015, Chile recorded an estimated 210 million metric tons of copper reserves, which represented 29% of the world’s reserves, and produced 5.7 million metric tons of copper. Large quantities of iodine, coal, gold, silver, nitrate, iron ore and molybdenum are also found in Chile. As a result, the mining sector is a significant contributor to the export sector and to Chile’s GDP. Whereas non-manufactured mining exports are recorded under the mining sector, the process of mining production is included in the manufacturing sector.
In the 1990s, the mining sector grew due to increased investment, including the opening of new large mines. During 2014 and 2015, this sector represented 11.2% and 9.0%, respectively, of GDP and accounted for approximately 54.0% and 52.5%, respectively, of Chile’s total exports amounting to approximately US$40.5 billion and US$32.6 billion per year, respectively. The decrease in 2015 reflects similar volumes exported at lower prices. Copper exports during 2015 decreased by US$7.1 billion compared to 2014.
Copper is extracted by a mix of state-owned and private companies. The state-owned copper enterprise, Codelco, is the largest copper producer in the world as well as the largest company in Chile. Codelco contributed US$2.4 billion to government revenues in 2014, and US$1.1 billion in 2015, while private mining contributed US$2.5 billion in 2014 and US$2.0 billion in 2015. Under Chilean law, Codelco’s net earnings are subject to a special 40.0% tax in addition to the corporate income tax generally applicable to domestic companies and paid by its private sector competitors. In addition, as a wholly state-owned enterprise, Codelco contributes all of its net income to the central government’s budget through profit transfers. See “Public Sector Finances—Government-owned Enterprises—Codelco.” In 2012, the copper industry contributed a total of US$8.2 billion in revenues to the government. In 2013, as a result of decreased copper prices, government revenue from copper, including private mining, decreased to US$5.9 billion. In 2014 and 2015, government revenues from copper represented US$4.2 billion and US$3.0 billion, respectively. Copper exports totaled approximately 92.3% and 92.6% of all Chilean mining exports in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Although the mining sector continues to be the recipient of most of the foreign investment in Chile, a trend toward diversification has made the electricity and services sectors increasingly appealing to foreign investors, while mining investment has decreased in relative terms. Foreign investment in the mining sector in 2012, 2013 and 2014 totaled US$14.0 billion, US$3.8 billion and US$7.3 billion, respectively. The decrease in foreign investment in the mining sector was primarily due to lower capital contributions in the mining sector caused by lower copper prices.
In May 2005, a mining tax, known as the mining royalty, was enacted by Congress, which initially stipulated that, in addition to any corporate income tax required to be paid, mining companies producing over 50,000 metric tons of fine copper per year were to be taxed at 5.0% of taxable income (renta imponible), while those producing between 12,000 and 50,000 metric tons were to be taxed on a sliding scale from 0.0% to 4.5%, and those producing less than 12,000 tons were to be excluded from the new tax. The mining royalty does not infringe on any existing tax agreements between foreign firms and the Chilean government.
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In October 2010, as part of the government’s plan to finance the reconstruction effort following the February 2010 earthquake and tsunami, Congress raised mining royalties payable to the government pursuant to Law No. 20,469. This law establishes a new sliding scale tax on mining companies, which varies depending on annual sales of fine copper and, in the case of large companies, operating margin. Mining operators with annual sales over 50,000 metric tons of fine copper are now subject to a tax ranging from 5.0% to 34.5% of operating margin, instead of the prior 5.0% fixed rate tax on taxable income previously established under Law 20,026 of 2005. See “Republic of Chile—Earthquakes and Other Natural Disasters.”
The government is seeking to develop other mining activities such as the exploration and exploitation of lithium reserves and of gold. An international bidding process to grant rights to explore and exploit lithium was conducted in 2012, and resulted in an initial award that was challenged by other bidders and left without effect. No further steps have been taken by the government pending resolution of the dispute. With respect to gold, Pascua Lama, a cross-border mining project undertaken by Barrick Gold Corp. and involving Argentina, was scheduled to commence production in 2014, but construction was enjoined in 2013 as a result of environmental claims brought by indigenous communities regarding the impact of the project on water supplies. In May 2014, Barrick Gold Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with a group of 15 indigenous communities in Chile, marking the first step in the dialogue to restart the Pascua Lama project. However, the project remains suspended and is facing new enforcement procedures brought by the Superintendency of the Environment (Superintendencia del Medio Ambiente, or SMA) after the Supreme Court confirmed an environmental court ruling, which had annulled the sanctions imposed by the SMA for non-compliance with its environmental permits.
Manufacturing Sector
Chile’s manufacturing sector is based primarily on the processing of natural resources. Between 2011 and 2015, this sector represented 10.8% of GDP.
During 2013, 2014 and 2015, exports from the manufacturing sector amounted to US$27.0 billion, US$28.8 billion and US$24.3 billion, representing 35.4%, 38.5% and 39.1% of total exports, respectively.
The following table sets forth information regarding the output of manufacturing production for the periods indicated:
Output of Manufactured Products
(in billions of pesos and as a percent of total)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Ps.) | (%) | (Ps.) | (%) | (Ps.) | (%) | (Ps.) | (%) | (Ps.) | (%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco | 4,977 | 37.4 | 5,363 | 38.5 | 5,769 | 38.8 | 6,247 | 39.7 | 6,779 | 39.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Textiles, clothing and leather | 341 | 2.6 | 356 | 2.6 | 374 | 2.5 | 345 | 2.2 | 321 | 1.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wood products and furniture | 556 | 4.2 | 577 | 4.1 | 655 | 4.4 | 823 | 5.2 | 886 | 5.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paper and printing products | 1,612 | 12.1 | 1,329 | 9.5 | 1,470 | 9.9 | 1,701 | 10.8 | 1,975 | 11.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chemicals, petroleum, rubber and plastic products | 2,715 | 20.4 | 3,014 | 21.6 | 3,317 | 22.3 | 3,389 | 21.5 | 3,611 | 21.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Non-metallic mineral products and base metal products | 870 | 6.5 | 786 | 5.6 | 824 | 5.5 | 803 | 5.1 | 780 | 4.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Metal products, machinery and equipment and miscellaneous manufacturing | 2,225 | 16.7 | 2,515 | 18.0 | 2,473 | 16.6 | 2,431 | 15.4 | 2,766 | 16.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 13,130 | 100.0 | 13,940 | 100.0 | 14,883 | 100.0 | 15,738 | 100.0 | 17,117 | 100.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
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In 2011, the manufacturing sector grew by 7.6%, as compared to 2010 (measured using chained volumes at previous year prices), which was mainly driven by growth in revenues from metal products and foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco.
In 2012, the manufacturing sector grew by 3.5%, as compared to 2011 (measured using chained volumes at previous year prices), mainly as a result of an increase in exports of foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco, and to a lesser extent the increase in exports of paper and printing products, non-metallic mineral products and chemicals.
In 2013, the manufacturing sector increased 0.9%, as compared to 2012 (measured using chained volumes at previous year prices), influenced by decreased production in non-metallic products and base metal products, which was partially offset by an increase in wood and furniture production.
In 2014, the manufacturing sector decreased 0.8%, as compared to 2013 (measured using chained volumes at previous year prices), mainly as a result of decreases in foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco, textiles, clothing and leather, in metal products, machinery, equipment and miscellaneous manufacturing and in non-metallic mineral products and base metal products.
In 2015, the manufacturing sector grew by 1.8%, as compared to 2014 (measured using chained volumes at previous year prices), which was mainly as a result of growth in chemical, petroleum, rubber and plastic products sectors and in foodstuffs. beverages and tobacco, while the textiles, clothing and leather sectors contracted.
The manufacturing sector contributes to Chile’s exports of products such as fishmeal, wine, frozen fish (including processed salmon), juice and canned foods. In 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 exports of manufactured foodstuff products totaled US$7.6 billion, US$7.6 billion, US$8.3 billion, US$9.4 billion and US$8.1 billion, respectively.
The chemicals, petroleum products, rubber and plastics industries had exports of approximately US$5.4 billion in 2014 and US$ 4.4 billion in 2015, which represented 18.8% and 18.0% of all manufactured product exports in those years.
Chile has become a significant wine exporter globally. Wine exports totaled US$1.9 billion and US$1.8 billion in each of 2014 and 2015.
Services Sector
Construction
The construction sector is composed of an infrastructure and a non-infrastructure sub-sector. The infrastructure sub-sector includes projects such as the construction of large-scale mining facilities, energy and/or water plant projects. Growth in the infrastructure sector until 2009 was fueled by a public works concession program implemented by the Ministry of Public Works. See “—Privatization and Infrastructure—Public Works—Infrastructure Concessions.” The non-infrastructure sub-sector is comprised of private sector construction projects, such as hotels, apartments and office buildings, mall centers, commercial outlets, cinemas and single-family homes. The construction sector grew by 1.8% in 2010 as a result of Chilean reconstruction efforts after the 2010 earthquake and tsunami. This upward trend continued during 2011 and 2012, during which the construction sector grew by 6.8% and 7.2%, respectively, mainly as a result of continued reconstruction efforts. In 2013 and 2014, the construction sector continued to grow, although at lower rates, amounting to 3.9% and 1.5%, respectively due to lower demand caused by more restrictive conditions imposed by lenders on mortgage applicants. In 2015, the construction sector grew by 2.3%, fueled by the current exemption from VAT available to construction works, which is scheduled to terminate in 2017.
Energy
General. Energy consumption in Chile consists mainly of oil, natural gas, wood and electricity. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, energy consumption remained stable at 2.4% and 2.2% and 2.5% of GDP, respectively.
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Since 2012, the government’s energy policy and initiatives have been undertaken and coordinated by the Ministry of Energy (Ministerio de Energía), which is responsible for policy, laws and regulations, plans and programs and generally the stewardship of the energy sector in the country. The National Commission on Energy (Comisión Nacional de Energía, or CNE) is responsible for regulating the energy sector, including conducting tariff analysis, identifying technical and quality standards and carrying out competitive tender processes to supply energy to power distribution companies subject to regulated prices.
Chile imports in excess of 60% of its primary energy and is exposed to international price volatility, as well as supply restrictions attributable to third-party measures that it cannot control. Continued economic growth and the increasing demand for energy have resulted in significant increases in domestic energy prices affecting the population generally as well as industrial activities. The government’s current energy program has short-, medium- and long-term components that focus on demand as well as supply of energy. In the short-term, the government seeks to encourage more efficient energy use, increase energy savings and promote the use of non-conventional renewable energy, or NCRE (that is, the energy produced by geothermal, wind, solar, tidal, biomass and small hydroelectric power plants). In the medium- and long-term, the government’s goals include (i) involving stakeholders in energy planning, (ii) improving energy transmission, (iii) continuing to promote the use of NCRE, (iv) strengthening ENAP, and (v) increasing competition within the energy sector.
In May 2014, the government announced its Energy Agenda (Agenda de Energía) establishing the energy policy goals for the next decade. The main aspects of the Energy Agenda are: (i) reducing by 30.0% the marginal costs of electricity; (ii) reducing by 25.0% the price of energy sold to distribution companies; (iii) increasing the presence of NCRE sources to 20.0% of the Chilean matrix by 2025; (iv) promoting the efficient use of energy and achieving a 20.0% savings goal; (v) designing a fossil fuels price stabilization system; (vi) strengthening the role of ENAP — a state-owned company focused on the hydrocarbon market — in the energy market; and (vii) developing a long-term energy policy by 2015. In September 2015, the government announced the 2050 Energy Pipeline (Hoja de Ruta 2050), and deployed its long-term energy strategy. For the period from 2016 to 2025 the 2050 Energy Pipeline is expected to focus on removing barriers to competition in the field of energy generation. The implementation of certain aspects of the Energy Agenda will require legislative action based on bills to be submitted by the Ministry of Energy, including among other initiatives, the interconnection of the two main electric networks: SIC (Sistema Interconectado Central) and SING (Sistema Interconectado del Norte Grande), which together make up for over 99.4% of the total electricity generation in Chile. The Ministry of Energy has begun implementing aspects of the Energy Agenda that do not require legislative action.
The government has supported the development of NCRE sources particularly through an improvement in the electricity market’s regulatory framework and the implementation of direct support mechanisms for investment initiatives in NCRE. There has been an increasing interest by both local and international investors in the development of these projects. On April 1, 2008, Congress enacted Law No. 20,257 aimed at fostering the development and use of NCRE. Energy generation companies with a capacity of 200 MW or more became required to produce a certain percentage of their energy output from NCRE sources. This obligation was initially 5.0% of the total energy output and it was stipulated that starting in 2015, the portion of NCRE-sources related generation would increase 0.5% annually up to 10.0% in 2024. On October 22, 2013, however, Congress enacted Law No. 20,698, which increased the required percentages of NCRE-sourced energy. Under the 2013 legislation, the 5.0% quota will reach 20.0% in 2025 through progressive increases which started in 2015. Additionally, Law No. 20,698 set forth the obligation of the Ministry of Energy to call for bids to fulfill the corresponding NCRE quota to award contracts with price stabilization mechanisms.
Oil and Gas. Substantially all of Chile’s crude oil and natural gas consumption is imported. During 2014, 10.1 million cubic meters of crude oil were refined in Chile, 3.3% of which was from reserves from domestic production and 96.7% of which was imported. In 2014, domestic crude oil production totaled 173,700 cubic meters and crude oil imports amounted to 9.8 million cubic meters. In addition, 997.3 million cubic meters of natural gas was processed in the same period and domestic production totaled 673.0 million cubic meters. Although there are no legal restrictions in Chile on the refining of crude oil by private sector companies, the only refiner in Chile is ENAP. National and international refiners sell their refined products in an open and competitive market to private distributors.
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To overcome gas supply shortages from Argentina, ENAP, in association with private companies (Endesa, Metrogas and BG Group), developed and implemented the Quintero LNG Project, the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in South America. The Quintero LNG terminal has been fully operational since 2010 and has an installed capacity of 15 million cubic meters per day. During 2015, the Quintero LNG terminal supplied 2,978 million cubic meters of gas. In addition, in February 2010, Codelco and Suez began operating the Mejillones LNG terminal, with an operating capacity of 5.5 million cubic meters per day, and intended to increase its operating capacity to 8.25 million cubic meters per day within two years after the expansion project begins.
To promote hydrocarbon exploration, the Ministry of Mining invited local and international companies to participate in a tender for exploration and production blocks located at the Magallanes Basin (south of Chile). On November 15, 2007, the Ministry of Mining awarded nine exploration blocks to several private companies and/or consortia. In 2009, the Ministry awarded a new exploration block to a consortium formed by ENAP and Methanex. Since 2010, the agreements governing these exploration activities have been under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy.
On October 23, 2014, a consortium formed by EDF, Cheniere and local developers submitted a project for the construction of a third liquefied natural gas (LNG) port terminal in Chile to the Environmental Commission of the Bío Bío Region, for assessment of its environmental impact. The terminal has planned capacity to host a supplying ship and a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) (i.e. a ship where gas is processed), and is be located in the borough (comuna) of Penco, in the Bío Region.
Electricity. Since December 2008, 100.0% of the equity interests in the distribution and generation companies in Chile have been controlled by the private sector. The electricity industry in Chile is divided into three sub-sectors: generation, transmission and distribution.
The generation sub-sector consists of companies that generate electricity from hydroelectric, gas-fired and thermal sources. During 2013, 65,958 GWh (gigawatt-hours) were produced in Chile by the two main electric networks, SIC and SING. Chile derives 30.7% of its total power from hydraulic generation, 19.3% from natural gas, 40.7% from coal, 6.0% from petroleum; 2.8% from biomass and 0.6% from wind energy.
The transmission sub-sector features companies that transmit the electricity produced by generation companies at high voltage via high-tension power lines over long distances.
The distribution sub-sector consists of companies that purchase electricity from generation companies to sell to regulated and unregulated customers.
As of December 2013, the installed capacity comprised 35.2% hydraulic energy, 23.9% natural gas, 20.8% coal, 16% petroleum, 2.3% biomass and 1.7% wind sources. By 2025, NCRE sources are expected to account for approximately 20.0% of the total energy output.
In 2004 and 2005, the government passed two laws, the so called “Short Law I” of 2004 and “Short Law II” of 2005, intended to provide incentives for private investment in the electricity sector. Short Law I created incentives for investments in transmission, while “Short Law II” created incentives for investments in power generation, including both conventional projects and alternative renewable energy sources by allowing distribution companies to award long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) to generators at prices determined in open bids instead of using regulated prices. Generators compete on prices to sell energy to distributors and the price of the resulting PPA is typically indexed to each bidder’s input costs. According to information released by the National Energy Commission, in 2006, electricity supply projects increased by 30.0% after the enactment of Short Law II.
On January 29, 2015, Law No. 20,805 entered into force, which is intended to improve the competitive bidding process carried out to supply energy to regulated clients and ensure electricity supply under resulting contracts. Additional goals of this law include obtaining competitive prices and ensuring compliance with economic efficiency, competition, security and diversification objectives. Law No. 20,805 also grants more authority to the CNE in connection with the competitive bidding process.
In August 2015, the government introduced a bill to Congress, which included among its main objectives:
| • | the creation of a national independent system operator; |
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| • | increased involvement by the government in strategic planning with the aim of developing all transmission facilities (currently, the government’s strategic planning only covers trunk transmission facilities); |
| • | the reclassification of transmission facilities into new categories: (i) national transmission, (ii) regional transmission, (iii) dedicated transmission, (iv) development poles and (v) international transmission facilities; |
| • | extending the open access principle to all transmission facilities; |
| • | extending the return on investment guarantee (20 year period) from trunk transmission to all transmission facilities; and |
| • | amending the allocation of payment of transmission tolls, to ensure that all tolling fees are paid by customers to the holders of the transmission systems (currently trunk transmission fees are invoiced mostly to generators, which pass through that cost to their customers). |
This bill was approved by the Congress on July 7, 2016 as law No.20,936.
Initiatives to increase power generation have encountered important hurdles primarily related to environmental concerns.
The HydroAysén Project contemplates the construction of five hydroelectric power plants in the Aysén Region, two on the Baker River and three on the Pascua River. The dams would generate a total of 2,750 megawatts (3,690,000 horsepower) with further capacity for 18,430 gigawatt-hours (66,300 terajoules) on average annually. The HydroAysén Project encountered objections raised by certain environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and activists. Construction was initially enjoined by the Court of Appeals of Puerto Montt, and afterwards by the Supreme Court of Chile. In 2012, the injunctions were lifted. However, in June 2014, the council of ministers of the government of Chile declined to approve the HydroAysén Project due to its perceived adverse environmental impact. This decision of the council of ministers has been appealed before the environmental courts and, as of the date of this report, a decision on the appeal is pending.
The Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project contemplates the construction of two dams in Cajón del Maipo, 50 kilometers from Santiago. The two dams, Alfalfal II and Las Lajas, are expected to utilize water from the Volcán, Yeso and Colorado rivers and will have an installed capacity of 531 megawatts. The Alto Maipo project also encountered objections raised by certain NGOs and activists. The sponsors of the project have obtained all necessary environmental approvals to begin construction, which began in the second half of 2014.
On August 28, 2012, the Supreme Court revoked certain environmental approvals granted to the Castilla project, a 2,100 MW coal and fuel-oil based power plant in the Atacama Region, near the city of Copiapó, and a related port facility. The court sided with the plaintiffs’ arguments that the plant and port should be considered as a single project for environmental approvals, and that the contamination levels of the project considered as a whole were impermissibly high. As a result, development efforts relating to the Castilla project were suspended and later terminated because the project developer was declared bankrupt in its home country. The Castilla project represented a substantial portion of the expected generation projects and with its abandonment, upward pressure on the price of electricity may persist.
In January 2014, the Supreme Court approved the environmental permit granted for the Punta Alcalde project, a 740-MW coal-fired power plant, to be located 32 kilometers south of Huasco in the Atacama Region. The Supreme Court’s approval requires the project developers to adopt additional air mitigation and control measures. According to publicly available information as of the date of this report, the project has been suspended.
Water
As of 2013, approximately 99.9% of the Chilean population living in urban areas had access to drinkable water. Private companies provide water and wastewater services in Chile since the privatization of the last three state-owned companies in June 2004. The treatment of wastewater increased from 20.2% in 1999 to 99.93% in 2013.
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On June 15, 2011 and May 4, 2012, the government, through CORFO, sold a portion of its ownership interest in the Aguas Andinas, ESVAL/ESSBIO and ESSAL water companies, while maintaining veto rights over decisions that affect the water rights of these companies. See “Privatization and Infrastructure.”
Trade and Catering
The trade and catering sector is primarily composed of retail and wholesale local commerce. Additionally, it encompasses a portion of Chile’s gross tourism income and other related services such as restaurant dining, lodging and catering.
The growth and liberalization of Chile’s economy during the 1990s led to the rapid expansion of this sector. The commerce sub-sector has received significant investments in recent years, directed to a large extent at the construction and improvement of shopping malls. As of December 31, 2015, Chile had approximately 93 shopping malls. The supermarket industry has also experienced rapid expansion, as well as consolidation in recent years.
The travel and leisure industry, particularly tourism, is one of the most important contributors to the services sector. From 2011 to 2015, the average annual number of tourists visiting Chile totaled 3.7 million. In 2015, Chile received approximately 4.5 million tourists, primarily from Argentina (43.5%), Brazil (10.2%), Bolivia (9.4%), Peru (8.0%), the United States (4.2%), Colombia (2.4%), Spain (1.6%), Germany (1.6%) and France (1.6%). The tourism industry in 2011 and 2012, the latest data available, recorded revenues of US$7.9 billion and US$9.2 billion, respectively.
Personal Services
Chile’s personal services sector is composed of public and private education and health services and other services (including media and other services that are not rendered by the government or any other public entity). The personal services sector accounted for 10.8% in 2011, 11.1% in 2012, 11.6% in 2013, 11.8% in 2014 and 12.0% in 2015.
In Chile, parents can choose between public and private schools for their children. All schools, however, must comply with certain educational and academic program standards and require governmental authorization. Public schools receive monthly fund transfers from the central government based on the number of students attending, and many privately managed schools also receive government funding on the same basis. In 2011, Congress approved the General Education Law (Ley General de Educación, or LGE), which, among other things, created the Education Quality Agency (Agencia de Calidad de la Educación), responsible for assessing schools’ performance, and the Superintendency of Education (Superintendencia de Educación), which is responsible for school inspections. The LGE also strengthens the role of the National Council of Education (Consejo Nacional de Educación) in approving the national standards and curriculum for preschool, primary and secondary education. See “—Poverty, Income Distribution and Social Reforms—Educational Reforms.” Chile began implementing a new education reform in 2014, which, among other things, aims to increase all students’ access to school. See “—Poverty, Income Distribution and Social Reforms—Educational Reforms.”
Chile has a dual health insurance system comprising the public National Health Fund (Fondo Nacional de Salud, or Fonasa) and licensed private insurers (Instituciones de Salud Previsional, or Isapres), which provide health insurance plans. Since August 2011, all workers must set aside at least 7.0% of their monthly salary for the financing of a health insurance plan, up to a limit of the equivalent of UF4.62 (approximately US$167 as of December 31, 2015). However, on August 31, 2011, Congress enacted Law No. 20,667 that (i) exempted lower-income retired workers (jubilados) from this contribution requirement and (ii) reduced the contribution obligations of middle-income retired workers as defined by Social Protection Data (Ficha de Protección Social).
Workers may opt between joining the Fonasa health service network (by contributing 7.0% of their salary, up to the abovementioned limit) or purchasing a health insurance policy offered by any Isapre (by paying 7.0% or more of their salary). As of December 31, 2014, approximately 3.3 million people were covered by private health insurance policies contracted with Isapres and over 13.5 million people were covered by Fonasa. A portion of the remaining population (approximately 1.1 million) receives health care from the armed forces and police health care systems, while the rest are uninsured.
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Fonasa is a universal healthcare system that provides medical and health care, surgical services, and public disease prevention programs through a regionally managed health service network. The Ministry of Health, through Fonasa, collects and distributes state and private funds for health services provided primarily in facilities managed by the state. The government also provides health care coverage for the uninsured and the indigent.
Within the Fonasa system, beneficiaries can choose to pay a modest co-payment and obtain care from any provider on a pre-approved list (Modalidad de Libre Elección, or MLE), or they may choose to obtain care at public facilities at almost no cost (Modalidad de Atención Institucional, or MAI). Within the private healthcare system, Isapres offer myriad and widely varying combinations of benefits, premiums and co-payments. While the law allows Isapres to offer different plans according to the age and sex of individuals, no further risk segmentation is permitted. A network of private health providers supplies most medical care under the Isapre system.
Plan AUGE (Acceso Universal con Garantias Explícitas), a public health system reform, was put into place in 2005. This plan aims to provide full coverage over time at low or zero co-payments for a list of priority ailments. The program has continued to expand since 2005 to include different ailments. See “—Poverty, Income Distribution and Social Reforms—Health System Reform.”
Financial Services
Banks, pension funds, life and general insurance companies, and other institutional investors comprise Chile’s financial services sector. The financial services sector contributed 17.7%, 18.7%, 18.9%, 18.4% and 18.7% of total GDP in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively.
In September 2009, the stock exchanges of Lima (Peru), Colombia (operating in Bogota, Medellin and Cali) and Santiago (Chile) entered into a memorandum of understanding in order to create an integrated model for the market of variable rate instruments, to be managed by each participant, and compensated and liquidated by the participating entities. In November 2010, the stock exchanges entered into an agreement to implement the first phase of the stock integration, creating the so-called Latin American Integrated Market (Mercado Integrado Latinoamericana, or MILA). The MILA was approved by the SVS and became operative in Chile in June 2011.
Mexico became a member of MILA in December 2014. As of December 31, 2015, the consolidated market capitalization of the MILA amounted to US$734 billion, according to the Iberoamerican Federation of Stock Exchange (Federación Iberoamericana de Bolsas, or FIAB), which was greater than the market capitalization of the BM&F BOVESPA, the Sao Paolo stock exchange, that totaled US$478 billion as of December 31, 2015.
As of December 31, 2015, Chile’s banking sector comprised 23 privately owned banks and one state-owned bank (Banco Estado), and total banking system assets, deposits and loans totaled US$289 billion, US$169 billion and US$201 billion, respectively.
Chile’s securities market is composed of three stock exchanges: the Santiago Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Comercio de Santiago), which accounted for 93.5% of equity trading during 2014, and the Chilean Electronic Exchange (Bolsa Electrónica de Chile) and the Valparaíso Brokers Exchange (Bolsa de Corredores de Valparaíso), which together accounted for 6.5% of equity trading. As of December 31, 2015, the Santiago Stock Exchange had 216 companies listed and a total market capitalization of US$190 billion.
The market is regulated and supervised by the SVS, the SBIF and the Superintendency of AFP. Regulators are entitled to impose sanctions (including suspension of licenses and fines).
Transport and Communications
Transport. Chile’s transport sector represented 3.9% of GDP in 2011, 4.2% in 2012, 4.3% in each of 2013 and 2014 and 4.9% in 2015. Chile’s communications sector represented 2.0% of GDP in 2011, 1.9% in 2012, 1.8% in 2013, 1.6% in 2014 and 1.5% in 2015.
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From 2012 to 2014, the total amount of maritime cargo transported decreased on average by 3.3% per year, averaging approximately 134 metric tons per year From 2011 to 2015, the total amount of air cargo transported decreased on average by 1.4% per year, averaging approximately 268 tons per year. From 2011 to 2015, railroad freight transport increased by 1.6%, averaging approximately 27.1 million tons per year.
In an effort to increase private sector participation in the transport sector, between 2010 and 2012, portions of the San Antonio, Talcahuano, Coquimbo and Valparaíso ports were opened to public bidding processes. As a result, port concessions relating to the San Antonio port were awarded for a twenty-year period as well as for the Talcahuano and Coquimbo ports, for thirty years and twenty years, respectively. In 2013, the bidding was completed for Terminal 2 in the Valparaíso Port, and concessions were awarded for a thirty year period.
In February 2007, the Ministries of Transportation and Public Works implemented a new public transport system for Santiago, known as the “Transantiago” system, by granting concessions to private bus operators. This system was designed to be funded by a combination of the resulting bus and subway tolls and public subsidies. The primary objectives of the Transantiago system were to improve the quality of public transportation and reduce Santiago’s high levels of atmospheric pollution and traffic congestion.
The Transantiago system has experienced various challenges, mainly due to design problems, which, combined with lower than projected demand and difficulties in fee collection, resulted in operational deficits of approximately US$736 million in 2011, US$714 million in 2012, US$718 million in 2013, US$702 million in 2014 and US$654 million in 2015. In order to meet the Transantiago system’s resulting funding shortfall, the government exercised its extraordinary power under Article 32 of the Constitution, which allows it to appropriate up to 2.0% of the annual budget to fund the Transantiago system. In August 2009, Congress approved a US$1.0 billion subsidy for the Transantiago system to be used to cover the system’s deficit until 2014, to finance tariff reductions for students, to increase capacity, to decrease users’ average waiting time and to make the system the preferred method of transportation in Santiago. Although the subsidy was designed to permit the Transantiago system to finance its own operations, the government has been forced to increase fares several times since June 2010.
Subsidies provided to the Transantiago bus operators are specified by law and any adjustment must be approved by Congress in the annual budget law. Therefore, unless the law implementing the Transantiago system is amended by Congress, any shortfall between the subsidies and the total cost of the system to the bus operators may only be covered by fares. In May 2012, the government submitted a bill to Congress to increase the amount of subsidies allocated to the Transantiago system in order to maintain the financial stability of the system and prevent a significant increase in tariffs. In September 2013, Congress passed the bill and thus increased the amount of subsidies and created the Regional Development Fund to oversee the management of these subsidies by regional governments by assuring that funds designated to certain regions are invested as intended and improving information sharing between regions and the central government.
Since the establishment of the Transantiago system, a number of private transport companies (including most recently Inversiones Alsacia S.A. and Express de Santiago Uno S.A.) have been subject to insolvency proceedings. Due to such problems, during the second half of 2011, the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications renegotiated the terms of the public transportation contracts in order to improve the transportation system’s efficiency. The new contracts became effective on June 2012 and include incorporating gradually new requirements for operation and the strengthening of oversight in order to reduce the amount of tariff evasion, one of the system’s main problems.
Communications. The government has recognized the importance of information and communication technologies for Chile’s development and has consequently implemented a number of policies in various areas and formed the Committee of Ministers for Digital Development in 2007. This committee is responsible for the design and implementation of public policies to promote a deeper and more intensive use of information and communication technologies for citizens, businesses and the state.
The information and communications sector represented 2.0% of GDP in 2011, 1.9% in 2012, 1.8% in 2013, 1.6% in 2014 and 1.5% in 2015. Annual net foreign investment in the telecommunications sector was approximately US$(539) million in 2011, US$1,809 million in 2012 and US$878 million in 2013. This level of foreign investment is mainly due to growing domestic demand for telecommunication services flowing from the introduction of wireless broadband access technologies.
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In line with the global trend, the number of mobile subscribers is currently approximately seven times the number of installed fixed lines. As of December 31, 2015, the country had 23.2 million mobile subscribers and 3.4 million fixed telephone lines, representing a penetration rate of 128% for mobile telephone services and 19% for fixed-line services (including pay phones). Since January 2012, mobile phone users are entitled by law to retain their phone numbers in the event that they change mobile service providers.
In June 2012, Congress passed legislation to increase regulatory oversight of the design and installation of towers and antennas used for mobile services, to improve health standards and reconcile environmental concerns with the requirements of the growing mobile services market. The legislation makes service providers directly accountable to the communities affected by such infrastructure by allowing such communities to participate in the design and installation process.
In 2013, the government announced guidelines to encourage the digital and technological development in Chile through 2020, or the Digital Agenda. The Digital Agenda turns on five strategic pillars of activity: digital connectivity and inclusion; innovation and entrepreneurship; education and training; services; and environment for digital development. Throughout implementation, the Digital Agenda has expanded the coverage of networks and access to digital services, supported the development of a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation, made access to new media part of the educational agenda, facilitated payment systems throughout the country and placed the issues relating to freedom of access to content and applications without arbitrary discrimination and the principle of transparency in technical information on the Congressional agenda.
On September 14, 2009, Chile announced that it was adopting the ISDB-T International television broadcasting standard. On May 29, 2014, Law No. 20,750 regarding digital television was enacted. The law seeks to create an adequate framework for the proper functioning of the television industry, introduces the ideal of pluralism and modifies the functions of the National Commission of Television (Consejo Nacional de Televisión). Law No. 20,750 regulates the granting of concessions and limits to one the number of concessions for broadcast TV available to a single economic group within a location. Also, the new regulation seeks to promote, finance and grant subsidies to the production costs of transmission and broadcasting of high cultural level contents, as well as national, regional or local interest content with educational information or through which the civil and democratic values are encouraged.
On August 9, 2014, the government implemented flat rates for local and national long distance calls.
The following table provides a summary of certain information relating to the telecommunications sector in Chile:
Summary Telecommunications Sector Information
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Lines per 100 inhabitants | 19.5 | 18.8 | 19.0 | 19.1 | 19.0 | |||||||||||||||
| Cellular subscribers per 100 inhabitants | 128.8 | 137.0 | 134.2 | 132.2 | 128.2 | |||||||||||||||
| Domestic long distance minutes (million)(1) | 908.1 | 749.4 | 588.1 | 285.2 | n.a. | |||||||||||||||
International long distance minutes (only outgoing, million) | 135.3 | 122.0 | 114.0 | 106.7 | 89.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Internet per 100 inhabitants(2) | 11.7 | 12.5 | 13.1 | 14.0 | 15.1 | |||||||||||||||
| (1) | Domestic long distance data is available as of September 2014, after which the government implemented flat rates for local and national long distance calls. |
| (2) | Refers to the number of fixed lines in service per Chilean resident, based on annual population estimates by the INE, multiplied by a factor of 100. |
Source: Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, or SUBTEL.
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Housing
The housing sector includes sales and rentals of houses and related services provided by realtors and residential real estate developers. The sector’s contribution to GDP has remained relatively stable in recent years, representing 4.8% in 2011, 5.0% in 2012, 5.1% in 2013, 5.3% in 2014 and 5.4% in 2015.
Public Administration
The public administration sector consists of central government expenditure on public administrative services, principally personnel. This sectors contribution to GDP was 4.3% in 2011, 4.4% in 2012, 4.5% in 2013, 4.6% in 2014 and 4.8% in 2015.
Employment and Labor
Employment
In 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the unemployment rate stood at 7.1%, 6.4%, 5.9%, 6.2% and 5.8%, respectively. The following table sets forth information on employment and the labor force in Chile:
Employment and Labor(1)
(in thousands of persons or percentages)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Nationwide: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Labor force | 8,128 | 8,234 | 8,431 | 8,527 | 8,671 | |||||||||||||||
| Employment | 7,589 | 7,742 | 7,915 | 8,003 | 8,165 | |||||||||||||||
| Participation rate (%) | 59.9 | 59.7 | 60.2 | 60 | 60 | |||||||||||||||
| Unemployment rate (%) | 7.1 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 6.2 | 5.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Santiago: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Labor force | 2,968 | 3,019 | 3,077 | 3,161 | 3,128 | |||||||||||||||
| Employment | 2,784 | 2,863 | 2,885 | 2,954 | 2,914 | |||||||||||||||
| Participation rate (%) | 60.3 | 60.7 | 61.2 | 62.3 | 61.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Unemployment rate (%) | 6.2 | 5.2 | 6.2 | 6.5 | 6.8 | |||||||||||||||
| (1) | Constitutes an average across each period indicated. |
Source: National Statistics Institute and University of Chile surveys. Since March 2010, the National Statistics Institute survey is based on new criteria for the collection of employment data, as discussed above.
The unemployment rate is subject to strong seasonal fluctuations, especially in the agricultural and commerce sectors, where the labor force increases during most of the spring and summer months.
The manufacturing sector employed 11.4% and 11.1% of Chile’s labor force in 2014 and 2015, respectively, and contributed 10.7% and 10.9% of GDP, respectively; the agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing sectors contributed 2.8% and 2.9% of GDP in 2014 and 2015, respectively, but accounted for 9.4% of Chile’s labor force in both 2014 and 2015, as a result of the labor-intensive nature of these sectors. The mining sector, which in 2014 and 2015 accounted for 11.2% and 9.0% of GDP, in each of those years, employed only about 3.0% and 2.8% of Chile’s labor force, respectively.
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The following table presents information regarding the average percentage of the labor force working in each sector of the economy for the periods indicated:
Employment(1)
(% by sector employed)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| PRIMARY SECTOR | 13.2 | % | 13.3 | % | 12.7 | % | 12.4 | % | 12.2 | % | ||||||||||
| Agriculture, livestock and forestry and fishing | 10.3 | 10.0 | 9.5 | 9.4 | 9.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Mining | 2.9 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 2.8 | |||||||||||||||
| MANUFACTURING SECTOR | 11.5 | 11.6 | 11.3 | 11.4 | 11.1 | |||||||||||||||
| SERVICES SECTOR | 75.3 | 75.2 | 76.0 | 76.2 | 76.7 | |||||||||||||||
| Electricity, gas and water | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Construction | 8.1 | 8.3 | 99.0 | 8.4 | 8.6 | |||||||||||||||
| Trade and catering | 24.3 | 23.4 | 23.9 | 23.6 | 23.7 | |||||||||||||||
| Transport and communications | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 7.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Financial services | 1.6 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Community and social services | 33.2 | 33.7 | 33.2 | 34.2 | 34.1 | |||||||||||||||
| TOTAL | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | ||||||||||
| (1) | Constitutes an average across each period indicated. |
Source: National Statistics Institute. Since March 2010, the National Statistics Institute survey is based on new criteria for the collection of employment data, as discussed above.
Women accounted for 41.1% of the labor force on average in 2015, compared to 36.0% in 2005. By the end of 2013, approximately 11.9% of the total labor force in Chile was unionized compared to 11.1% in 2000. Collective bargaining agreements are negotiated directly between each union and individual employers rather than on an industry-wide basis. In accordance with labor laws, unions may go on strike during the collective bargaining negotiations.
Following the International Labor Organization guidelines, in 2001 an amendment to the Labor Code became effective which allows a company to engage in collective bargaining with different unions at the same time. The collective bargaining negotiations may be extended to a group of companies upon the express consent of participating employers and unions. The amendment fosters competition during stoppages and allows the labor market to operate more efficiently while reducing the long-term unemployment rate by introducing part-time, flexible, work-at-home, temporary, and special training contracts.
In 2002, Chile implemented a new unemployment insurance system based on individual accounts managed by a private fund manager, plus a state-financed solidarity fund. The system is essentially a mandatory saving scheme financed by a combination of contributions from workers (0.6% of total wages), employers (2.4% of total wages, 1.6% to each worker’s individual account and 0.8% to the solidarity fund) and the state (approximately US$15 million per year contributed to the solidarity fund). The unemployment insurance system seeks to guarantee the availability of emergency income for unemployed workers in search of new employment and thus reduces consumption volatility and improves labor market stability. The system is designed to incentivize recipients to seek new employment, by setting a maximum of 5 monthly withdrawals, which become progressively smaller. As of December 31, 2015, 8.7 million workers were enrolled in the unemployment insurance system, which manages total assets valued at US$5.4 billion.
During 2011 and 2012, several new bills concerning social welfare and wages were proposed and approved by Congress. The main initiatives proposed by these bills included a more generous maternity coverage granted by the government to families living below the poverty line and the creation of a Ministry of Social Development (Ministerio de Desarrollo Social), which replaced the Ministry of Development and Social Planning (Mideplan). The Ministry of Social Development is empowered to design and implement public policies that reduce poverty in Chile and serves as coordinator for the social policies of all Chilean administrative entities. The Ministry of Social Development is also tasked with fostering social integration and granting protection to vulnerable communities.
In December 29, 2014, a bill was sent to Congress to bring Chile’s labor regulations into compliance with international standards. Among other changes, this bill seeks to:
| · | include trainee and temporary workers in collective bargaining negotiations; |
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| · | improve the freedom of association in the case of labor unions, eliminating the current requirement for employer approval; and |
| · | prohibit the replacement of workers during a strike. |
In addition, the proposed legislation would require companies to report their financial information to unions in order to improve the quality of agreements by allowing unions to negotiate on factors beyond wages. In addition, benefits provided by any collective bargaining agreement would only be available to members of the labor union and employers would not be permitted to extend the same benefits to non-unionized workers without prior approval by the applicable union.
Early in 2015, an amendment was proposed to this bill in an effort to mediate concerns between workers and employers, while also taking into account Chile’s recent low rates of GDP growth. Among other changes, this amendment modifies the “minimum services” to be maintained by a company during a strike, requires federations to receive approval by affected companies before engaging in collective bargaining and implements changes to make the collective bargaining process more efficient including the exclusive right of unions to conduct negotiation processes and the extension of benefits arising under collective bargaining agreements through the mere affiliation to a union. On April 6, 2016, the amendment was enacted and, on the same date, the Constitutional Court declared the unions exclusive right to conduct negotiations and the extension of collective agreements’ benefits by mere affiliation to a union unconstitutional.
Wages
Real wages grew at an average rate of 2.4% between 2011 and 2015. The average rate of real wages increased by 1.8% in 2011, 4.7% in 2012, 2.4% in 2013, 2.4 in 2014 and 0.8% in 2015. Labor productivity, as derived from real GDP, grew at an average annual rate of 1.4% between 2011 and 2015.
Real Wages
(% change on previous year)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Average real wages | 1.8 | 4.7 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 0.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Average change in productivity | 0.8 | 3.5 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | |||||||||||||||
Sources: Chilean Central Bank and National Statistics Institute.
Privatization and Infrastructure
Privatization Program
Chile initiated a large-scale privatization program in 1974. The Concertación coalition administrations introduced certain changes starting in 1989, including the public offering of interests in state-owned companies and the granting of concession rights.
The privatization program included three phases, which are described below:
| · | First, between 1974 and 1982, the government privatized most state-owned banks and manufacturing firms, which had been nationalized in the early 1970s. By 1980, the government had privatized approximately 90.0% of the more than 500 then state-owned companies. In addition, as describe above in “History and Background,” in 1981 the government began a comprehensive reform of the social security system. Under this reform, the government replaced the social security system with a privately run system of individual pension plans. This privatized pension system is based on individualized accounts with fully funded, vested and portable benefits that are entrusted to specialized fund management companies known as AFPs. See “Monetary and Financial System—Pension Funds and the Chilean Pension System.” During this first phase, 250 money-losing companies were privatized at no cost to selected purchasers through an agreement in which the purchasers waived their rights to initiate civil actions against the state, while an additional 232 companies were sold at specified prices. |
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| · | Second, between 1984 and 1989, the privatization efforts of the government focused on traditional state-owned companies such as telecommunications, electricity and steel production enterprises. By the end of 1989, the government had also privatized most of the state-owned enterprises held by CORFO (33 companies). |
| · | Third, beginning in 1990, the government modified the policy toward privatizations, increasing transparency in the process. Since previous administrations had already undertaken a large-scale program of privatizations to reduce the overall size of the public sector, the Concertación governments decided to analyze future privatizations on a case-by-case basis, and in certain limited cases, to retain a non-controlling interest in the privatized companies. Between 1990 and 2008, there were 30 principal privatizations (of which 15 were accomplished through concessions) in different sectors, including water supply, sewage, power utilities and transportation. |
The privatization phase initiated in 1990 resulted in several public companies being transferred to private administration, including ESSAN, ESSCO and EMSSAT. Further privatizations took place in 2011 and 2012, when CORFO completed a public sale of its equity shares in several water and sewage companies (Aguas Andinas, ESVAL, ESSBIO and ESSAL), which provided CORFO with approximately US$1.6 billion in proceeds. The main purpose of these sales was to fund CORFO programs to provide credit guarantees to small- and medium-sized enterprises (PyMES), make capital contributions to state-owned companies and to strengthen CORFO’s capital basis and thus have capacity for financing initiatives which aim to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in Chile. CORFO formerly held an ownership interest of approximately 35.0% in Aguas Andinas, 29.4% in ESVAL, 43.4% in ESSBIO and 45.5% in ESSAL. After the sale, CORFO maintained approximately 5.0% of its equity in each company as well as its absolute right to oppose (derecho de veto) transfers by such companies of water rights and sanitary concessions.
On May 6, 2016 the government submitted a draft bill to Congress providing for the creation of the Infrastructure Fund Corporation (Fondo de Infraestructura S.A.), a company that would be owned by the government and CORFO. The purpose of the Infrastructure Fund Corporation will be the construction, extension, repair, exploitation and development of private-public infrastructure projects to be financed through the securitization of future cash flows from concessions contracts.
Public Works — Infrastructure Concessions
The Concessions Act and the Financing of Infrastructure Act, both adopted in 1991 and amended in 1996 and 2010, aim to increase private investment in the infrastructure sector. The main goal of the Concessions Act is to provide certain guarantees for and flexibility in the form of concessions to local and foreign investors. The objective of the Financing of Infrastructure Act is to provide alternatives for the financing of infrastructure projects using direct investment from institutional and other long-term investors.
The government grants infrastructure concessions through the Ministry of Public Works. The first concession was granted in 1993. A concession may relate to any public works project. Generally, a concessionaire undertakes to construct or improve a specific facility and then to operate, profit from via tolls, subsidies or a combination thereof, and maintain it for a specified term. The government provides the concessionaire with the design of the facility and monitors its construction and operation. Concessions typically last from 10 to 30 years, although the law allows for periods up to 50 years.
Concessionaires are allowed to charge fees for the use of the chartered public work within the limits imposed by law and the relevant concession agreement. The government may provide on a case-by-case basis a minimum revenue guarantee to a concessionaire. This guarantee is a percentage of the estimated revenues for a given period and helps to facilitate the financing of concession projects. The government assesses each project to determine how the concessionaire and the government should share risks associated with the project. A concessionaire may raise additional funds by issuing non-recourse bonds backed by revenues from the concession and the minimum revenue guarantee by the government. See “Public Sector Finances—Government Expenditures—Public Contingent Liabilities.”
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In January 2010, an amendment to the Concessions Act was enacted and became effective in April 2010. This amendment intends, among other matters, to improve the dispute settlement mechanism through the establishment of a Technical Panel and changes to the regulation of the Arbitral Commission to resolve conflicts arising out of the concession contracts. The amendment also created a Concession Council to advise the Minister of Public Works on policy deliberations arising from concessions. Under certain circumstances, concessionaires have the right to apply for financial compensation following an amendment to the work or service requested by a public authority. Additionally, the Ministry of Public Works and concessionaires can agree on changes to the work or service provided under the concession.
As of August 2016, 70 concession projects had been granted by the Ministry of Public Works, of which 37 related to roads and highways, 11 related to airports, 8 related to public buildings, 3 related to urban transport projects, 3 related to prisons, 3 related to a water irrigation project, 4 related to hospitals and 1 related to a land port. Investment in these projects totaled more than US$11.2 billion. On December 13, 2013, the government announced an international bidding process to construct a bridge to connect Chiloé, Chile’s largest island, with the mainland. A bidder was selected on February 17, 2014 with an estimated cost of US$606 million. Construction will commence in 2016 and is expected to take approximately 81 months.
Environment
The Constitution grants all citizens the right to live in a pollution-free environment and requires the government to assure that this right will not be impaired and to provide for the conservation of nature. It further provides that the law may specifically limit other legal rights in order to protect the environment. Thus, Chile has established a framework of laws, regulations, decrees and municipal ordinances that address the protection of the environment.
Chile’s principal environmental concerns include industrial and urban pollution, as well as air, water and soil pollution caused by past industrial and commercial development when environmental regulation was less strict.
The enforcement of environmental regulations has become a significant factor affecting major investment projects, including important energy generation projects, and leading to increased debate in Chilean society. See “—Principal Sectors of the Economy—Services Sector—Energy.”
On September 29, 2015, Chile submitted a new climate action plan to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change including two types of commitments:
- A carbon intensity target, expressed in greenhouse gas emissions per GDP unit, which includes all the sectors quantified in the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2010), except for the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector. Chile is committed to reducing its CO2 emissions per GDP unit by 30% below their 2007 levels of emissions by 2030. Subject to obtaining international financing, Chile is committed to reducing its CO2 emissions per GDP unit by 2030 until it reaches a 35% to 45% reduction with respect to the 2007 levels of emissions.
- A target expressed in CO2 equivalent tons from the LULUCF sector. Chile has committed to the sustainable development and recovery of 100,000 hectares of forest land (mainly native), which will account for greenhouse gas sequestrations and reductions of an annual equivalent of approximately 600,000 of CO2 as of 2030. Chile also has committed to reforest 100,000 hectares (mostly with native species), which will amount to sequestrations of about 900,000 and 1,200,000 annual equivalent tons of CO2 as of 2030.
General Legal Framework
In 1994, Chile enacted the General Environmental Law (Law No. 19,300) and created the National Environmental Commission (Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente, or CONAMA). The General Environmental Law introduced the framework and principles for a more integrated approach towards environmental protection and management, and set out the Environmental Impact Assessment System (Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental, or SEIA), as well as emission and quality standards and prevention and decontamination plans. This law also introduced a civil liability system for environmental damage, based on negligence or fault. Strict liability systems contained in specialized environmental laws remained in force.
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To conform to OECD standards, Chile submitted to a series of evaluations, including with respect to environmental performance, carried out via peer review, which is a non-confrontational approach oriented towards both collective learning and the generation of public policy recommendations. In 2005, the OECD’s environmental evaluation of Chile highlighted significant progress in air, energy, water, biodiversity and habitat conservation, the integration of environmental considerations into the economic decision-making process, and international cooperation. It also set forth a series of policy recommendations designed to improve environmental management and attain sustainable development. In compliance with these recommendations, Chile implemented a new policy for chemical safety in 2008, and, in 2010, the new environmental institutional framework described below, entered into force. As part of its process of admission to the OECD, Chile signed the OECD’s Declaration on Green Growth.
The General Environmental Law was substantially amended in January 2010 pursuant to Law No. 20,417. The revisions provided for the establishment of a series of entities that replaced those created under the original General Environmental Law: (i) the Ministry of the Environment (Ministerio del Medio Ambiente), responsible for developing environmental policies and regulations; (ii) the Environmental Assessment Service (Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental, or SEA), which replaced CONAMA and implements and administers the SEIA; and (iii) the Environmental Superintendence, entrusted with conducting environmental compliance audits of projects approved under the SEIA and enforcing emission and quality standards, prevention and decontamination plans and any other environmental instruments established by law.
On June 28, 2012, Congress enacted Law No. 20,600, providing for the creation of three environmental courts, subject to the Supreme Court’s supervision, in charge of hearing and deciding on environmental disputes. The environmental courts, located in Santiago, Antofagasta and Valdivia, are each three-judge panels, including two lawyers and one science and environmental expert. Environmental courts have significant autonomy because their decisions are only subject to appeal in exceptional cases, and their final decision can only be overruled by the Supreme Court in limited cases.
Environmental Impact Assessment System
In October 6, 2014, a new Regulation on the Environmental Impact Assessment System (Reglamento del Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental) became effective, replacing the 2002 Regulation, and making regulations consistent with the new legal framework explained above.
The SEIA is aimed at ensuring the environmental sustainability of projects and activities performed by the public and private sectors. The Environmental Assessment Service is responsible for implementing and administrating the SEIA, and coordinating the project’s assessment with the other Chilean public environmental institutions. Only listed investment projects or activities must submit an Environmental Impact Statement (Declaración de Impacto Ambiental, or DIA) for assessment. If the project’s impacts are significant, an Environmental Impact Study (Estudio de Impacto Ambiental, or EIA) is required. The final approval of the statement or study, as applicable, is decided by the Regional Environmental Assessment Commissions or the National Director of the Environmental Assessment Service, if the project affects more than one Region of Chile.
The SEIA process begins with the submission of a DIA or EIA to the SEA in the Region where the project or activity will be located. The SEIA process involves consultation with various authorities as well as with the project holder and it may involve public consultation. The SEA is required to prepare a consolidated report, or ICE, containing the project’s description and its expected impact, together with suggested measures that would mitigate or compensate for risks related to the project. Finally, the Regional Environmental Assessment Commission or the National Director of the Environmental Assessment Service, as applicable, must render a resolution approving or rejecting the project or activity.
The project owner is entitled to file a complaint (reclamación) if the final resolution rejects the DIA or EIA or imposes conditions or additional requirements. Individuals and legal entities that took part in the public participation process may also contest the environmental approval. Complaints must be filed with the National Director of the Environmental Assessment Service in the case of a DIA or with a committee of Ministers (Comité de Ministros) in the case of an EIA. The rulings of the National Director or a committee of Ministers, as applicable, may be challenged before the corresponding environmental courts.
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Project owners and individuals and legal entities that took part in the public participation process may also file a complaint with a court of appeals with jurisdiction over the competent environmental authority. This process is called a recurso de protección and is granted by the Constitution, empowering the court of appeals to overturn resolutions that it deems to be illegal or arbitrary and order a new EIA or DIA. The environmental courts formed in 2012 are expected to limit this remedy to exceptional circumstances.
Activity-specific Environmental Regulations and Initiatives
Among other initiatives to preserve the environment, in 2004 and 2010 the government enacted specific regulations for the adequate management of hazardous wastes and the storage of hazardous substances. In December 2007, Congress also passed the Native Forest Law intended to preserve, renovate and restore forestry resources. The government also provides subsidies to promote soil protection and forestation with special emphasis on the use of native species.
In June 2011, a regulation was enacted to control the emission of pollutants by thermoelectric generation power plants. In January 2012, a new air quality standard for fine particulate matter (known as PM 2.5) was issued to monitor air quality and the emission of pollutants by industries. These regulations complemented existing quality and emission standards for air, water and noise pollution control.
Further, as part of its environmental policy, the government implements remediation plans including pollution control and pollution prevention projects for areas suffering the effects of copper smelters, fish processing plants and pulp processing plants. In highly populated areas such as the Santiago metropolitan area, the Region del Libertador Bernardo O´Higgins central area and Temuco and Padre de las Casas cities, decontamination plans have also been enacted.
International Cooperation
On an international level, Chile actively participates in the global agenda for sustainable development. Accordingly, the country has signed, among other accords, the following agreements:
| · | Convention for the Protection of Flora, Fauna, and Natural Scenic Beauty of the Americas; |
| · | Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources; |
| · | Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollution; |
| · | Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal; |
| · | Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); |
| · | UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol; |
| · | Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer; and |
| · | Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat (RAMSAR) |
Poverty, Income Distribution and Social Reforms
The government has a special commitment to protect and improve disadvantaged social sectors such as the country’s poor and indigenous populations. Responsibility for these initiatives currently lies with the Ministry of Social Development (Ministerio de Desarrollo Social). Since 2009, the ministry has prepared a bi-annual national Social and Economic Survey, which is a comprehensive report on changes in poverty, income distribution and the implementation of the government’s social development plans.
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The Social and Economic Survey conducted in 2011 showed that the percentage of the population living on an income below the poverty line fell from 38.6% in 1990 to 10.9% in 2011. This reduction can be attributed to strong GDP growth, rising wages, a rapidly increasing employment rate and a significant increase in government transfers and expenditures focused on low-income groups. The reduction in extreme poverty can be attributed to the government’s emphasis on social assistance programs, which allocate funds to poor communities based on their needs and contributed to a decrease in extreme poverty from 13.0% in 1990 to 2.8% in 2011.
Measures implemented by the government to decrease poverty include encouraging education, improving social spending efficiency and other financial support mechanisms intended to augment the monthly incomes of families. In addition, in May 2012, Congress approved a bill that improves the monetary coverage granted by the government to families living below the poverty line. See”—Employment and Labor—Employment.”
In the 2013 Social and Economic Survey, the Ministry of Social Development modified its methodology to provide for a higher quality of life as the baseline for measurements. The new methodology also considers multidimensional factors, such as access to education, healthcare, labor and housing. Based on this new methodology, the percentage of the population living on an income below the poverty line stood at 14.4% in 2013 without regard to the new multidimensional factors, and 20.4% when taking those factors into account.
Using the prior methodology, extreme poverty decreased to 2.5% in 2013 from 3.1% observed in 2011, and total poverty decreased to 7.8% from 10.9% in 2011.
The following table presents information regarding the evolution of poverty for the periods indicated:
Poverty 1990-2013
(% of Population)
Previous Methodology | New Methodology | |||||||||||||||||
| Year | Extreme Poverty | Total Poverty(1) | Extreme Poverty | Total Poverty(1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1990 | 13.0 | 38.6 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| 1992 | 9.0 | 32.9 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| 1994 | 7.6 | 27.6 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| 1996 | 5.7 | 23.2 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| 1998 | 5.6 | 21.7 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| 2000 | 5.6 | 20.2 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| 2003 | 4.7 | 18.7 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
| 2006 | 3.2 | 13.7 | 12.6 | 29.1 | ||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 3.6 | 11.4 | 9.9 | 25.3 | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 3.1 | 10.9 | 8.1 | 22.2 | ||||||||||||||
| 2013 | 2.5 | 7.8 | 4.5 | 14.4 | ||||||||||||||
| (1) | Total poverty includes extreme poverty. |
Source: Ministry of Social Development—Social and Economic Survey.
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The new methodology sets different poverty lines depending on the number of people in a household. As of the date of the survey conducted in 2013, the official monthly basket values for defining poverty and extreme poverty using the new methodology were as presented in the table:
Poverty line in urban areas
(U.S. dollars)
Number of people per house | Traditional methodology equivalence | New Methodology | ||||||||
| 1 | 125 | 259 | ||||||||
| 2 | 250 | 421 | ||||||||
| 3 | 375 | 559 | ||||||||
| 4 | 500 | 684 | ||||||||
Source: Ministry of Social Development—Social and Economic Survey. November 30, 2013 exchange rate.
Extreme poverty line in urban areas
(U.S. dollars)
Number of people per house | Traditional methodology equivalence | New Methodology | ||||||||
| 1 | 75 | 173 | ||||||||
| 2 | 150 | 281 | ||||||||
| 3 | 226 | 373 | ||||||||
| 4 | 301 | 456 | ||||||||
Source: Ministry of Social Development—Social and Economic Survey. November 30, 2013 exchange rate.
The following table presents information regarding social public spending by the government from 2011 to 2015:
Social Public Spending
(in billions of constant 2015 Pesos)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Health | 4,899 | 5,304 | 5,710 | 6,234 | 6,944 | |||||||||||||||
| Housing | 438 | 497 | 485 | 606 | 606 | |||||||||||||||
| Social security | 8,861 | 9,115 | 9,120 | 9,391 | 9,884 | |||||||||||||||
| Education | 5,382 | 5,849 | 6,393 | 6,677 | 7,392 | |||||||||||||||
| Other social programs | 359 | 399 | 397 | 408 | 429 | |||||||||||||||
| Total | 19,939 | 21,164 | 22,105 | 23,317 | 25,254 | |||||||||||||||
Source: Chilean Budget Office.
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Chile is highly concentrated in terms of income distribution and geographical location of wealth. However, the disparity has decreased over recent years. In fact, the poorest 20.0% of the population increased its share of national income from 3.9% in 2003 to 34.4% in 2013. The share of national income of the wealthiest 20.0% of the population decreased from 56.4% in 2003 to 53.4% in 2013. The following table presents information on income distribution in 2013 by population quintile in Chile, which is the latest available official data:
Income Distribution in 2013
(% of total income)
Population Quintile | ||||||||||||||||||||
I | II | III | IV | V | ||||||||||||||||
| Individual Income | 5.7 | 10.3 | 14.2 | 19.8 | 50.0 | |||||||||||||||
Source: Ministry of Social Development. Casen 2013. The table does not include education and health subsidies.
In 2013, the wealthiest 10.0% of municipalities collected 60.6% of all municipal income (mainly through real estate taxes), while the poorest 10.0% collected only 0.7%. The government created the Municipal Fund in 1979 as part of its efforts to redistribute resources across municipalities. This fund pools a percentage of revenues from fees collected by Chile’s 345 municipal governments on annual vehicle taxes and commercial licenses, as well as a portion of the amounts allocated to municipal governments by the central government from the collection of real estate taxes. The Municipal Fund then distributes these revenues to lower income municipalities. The Undersecretary of Regional Development (Subsecretaría de Desarrollo Regional) is required to publish on the Internet information about collections and the use of funds, outstanding debts and renegotiations. See “Public Sector Finances—General—Public Sector Accounts and Fiscal Statistics.”
In January 2009, Congress approved a bill to support national investment and employment, including an extraordinary contribution to the Common Municipal Fund of US$42.5 million. As a consequence of the 2010 earthquake and tsunami, the government, the Chilean Budget Office and the Association of Municipalities obtained Congressional approval for an additional contribution of up to Ps.10,000 million to the Common Municipal Fund, to be directly distributed to the municipalities most affected by the catastrophe, excluding the wealthier municipalities of Santiago, Providencia, Vitacura and Lo Barnechea.
Health Care System Reform
The Chilean health care system is comprised of a public sector administered by the government and a private sector. The health system confronts important challenges, of which some are general and others are specific to each subsystem (i.e., public and private sectors). The overarching challenge is to restructure the health system to enable it to face the changing epidemiological and demographic reality of Chile’s population, which includes such factors as aging, urbanization, new lifestyles and worsening environmental conditions. Additional difficulties result from the fact that health indicators vary significantly among the country’s different socioeconomic groups. Specific problems of the public subsystem include dissatisfaction resulting from delays, lack of service quality, reduced or non-existent access to expensive modern therapies and inefficiency. In the private subsystem, concerns center on price discrimination based on income, age, gender and preexisting diseases, the low levels of coverage for chronic and serious diseases and the difficulty inherent in comparing complex health plans.
Currently, Chile has a comprehensive rights-based health care system, known as Plan AUGE, which aims at providing full coverage over time at low or zero co-payments for a list of priority ailments. The system was introduced in 2002, through the implementation of a pilot plan that included three ailments. During the two subsequent years, the system incorporated 14 new pathologies. This pilot plan covered 25.0% of the most burdensome diseases detected in Chile’s population. In September 2004, a law was passed officially establishing Plan AUGE, guided by the principles of access, quality, financial protection and opportunity. The full plan commenced on July 1, 2005 and covered 56 ailments by 2007. As of December 31, 2015, Plan AUGE covered 80 ailments. The increase in the average cost per beneficiary for the standardized benefit package defined by the reform is now capped at the rate of growth of real wages in Chile.
The government health care reform also included the Health Authority and Management Act in 2004, which created a health authority with greater responsibilities and two new undersecretaries in the Ministry of Health: the Undersecretary of Health Care Networks and the Undersecretary of Public Health. In August 2011, Congress approved a bill that reduced or eliminated contributions by retirees to the public system. This measure became effective in November 2011.
From 2007, the expansion of Plan AUGE coverage and improvements in health infrastructure have implied an increase in health expenditure. The 2016 annual public budget law allocates Ps.497,825 million to health infrastructure expenditure, compared to Ps.529,019 million for 2015, which represents a decrease of 9.3% compared to 2015. In addition, Plan AUGE also includes a US$4.0 billion public health infrastructure investment program for the period 2015-2018.
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Educational Reforms
Educational reforms began in 1990 under President Aylwin’s administration. As part of the continuing focus on educational reform, succeeding governments undertook to create the infrastructure and organizational conditions necessary to lengthen the school day at all subsidized educational establishments and to improve teacher training at university and secondary levels. In 1994 the National Commission for the Modernization of Education was established, with the aim of delivering an analysis of Chile’s current educational system and suggestions for changes. In accordance with the Commission’s recommendations, the government implemented a number of initiatives, including, among others: an amendment to the teacher statute in 1995, seeking better regulation to improve the teaching profession; also in 1995, a new curriculum framework for basic education; in 1996, the creation of the National System for Performance Evaluation, as the agency in charge of evaluating subsidized educational establishments; in 1998, a new curriculum framework for secondary education was developed; in 2001, a system for evaluating teachers’ individual performances and the National Commission of Teacher Evaluation was established, a process that culminated in 2004 with the enactment of the Teacher Evaluation Act; and, in 2003, the System of School Management Quality Assurance was established, to improve institutional practices through self-evaluation.
In addition, a program called “Full Day at School” (Jornada Escolar Completa), established in 1997, aimed to increase the duration of the academic year from 1,200 to 1,520 hours for primary school and from 1,400 to 1,620 hours for secondary school.
In 2003, a constitutional amendment made it mandatory for children to attend school for twelve years. The government also encouraged parents to enroll their children in preschool instruction, by significantly increasing subsidies for preschool enrollments in municipal and subsidized private establishments. The expansion of access to preschool education was a policy priority for the government, and in 2013 a new constitutional amendment established the right to free universal access to quality education from age two and extended the duration of mandatory school instruction by one year to thirteen years (approved by Law No. 20,710).
The government has also increased access to university education by providing state guarantees for student loans, where private sector banks provide the loans and the state acts as a guarantor of up to 90.0% of the principal to resolve the credit constraint problem encountered by students. Successive improvements were introduced to the loan programs, such as a rescheduling of principal payments; the elimination of punitive interest payments; reducing the interest rate on loans with a state guarantee (Crédito con Garantía Estatal, or CAE) to 2.0% per annum, as well as limiting loan repayments to 10.0% of income after graduation (approved by Law No. 20,634).
As a result of student demonstrations in 2006, a presidential advisory committee on educational matters was formed, which in 2007 drafted a bill reforming the education system. The work of this advisory committee resulted in an agreement between the government and all political parties to reform the Constitutional Law of Education and to improve the quality of education. In 2009, Law No. 20,370, the General Law on Education (Ley General de Educación, or LGE) was enacted to regulate primary and secondary education. Under the LGE, the state guarantees access and financing for preschool education. Additionally, in 2008, the government created the Bicentennial System, a program aimed at financing education of Chilean students at the world’s most prestigious universities and institutions.
In 2008, Law No. 20,248, established the Preferential School Subsidy (Subvención Escolar Preferencial, or SEP), a monthly financial subsidy introduced to aid elementary schools that enroll students with limited capabilities. During 2010 the subsidy program was expanded to include high school education, and new funds were channeled through the Educational Institutions State Subsidy (Subvención Estatal a Establecimientos Educacionales) (approved by Law No. 20,637), a subsidy which funds education for children whose parents cannot afford to send them to school.
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During the years 2011 through 2013, sparked by protests by students and certain unionized teachers, the government passed additional legislation to further educational reform, including:
| · | Law No. 20,501 on Quality and Equity of Education, which among other initiatives provided for the selection of school directors through the High Public Sector Managers selection process (Alta Dirección Pública, or ADP) and ending the employment stability afforded to underperforming teachers; and |
| · | Law No. 20,529 on the Assurance of Quality in Education, which created the Superintendency of Education (Superintendencia de Educación Escolar) and the Agency for the Quality of Education (Agencia de la Calidad de la Educación), aimed at strengthening oversight education quality in Chile. The Agency is charged with setting forth new standards of quality and allowing the Superintendency to close underperforming educational institutions. The Superintendency is vested with the power to examine the accounts of institutions receiving public funding and their expenses. |
In addition, in September 2012 the government established an Education Fund. The purpose of the Education Fund is to provide further funds to advance the goals listed in Chile’s annual budget law regarding education and, especially to finance preschool education, the Preferential School Subsidy, and the creation of grants for higher education. The government made an initial contribution to the Education Fund of US$4.0 billion. As of December 31, 2014, the Education Fund held assets valued at US$3.7 billion.
In 2014, Congress passed a new education reform, one of the most important reforms for Ms. Bachelet’s administration. The education reform includes the following measures, which are each in different stages of the process of promulgation and publication.
| · | Discontinuing of Public Funding of For-Profit Schools: This law establishes a ban on profits by schools receiving public money, aiming to guarantee that resources are exclusively used for education. The project also contemplates a stronger regulatory role for the government. |
| · | Discontinuation of Co-Payments For Private Subsidized Schools: In Chile, parents have three main options in terms of financing when deciding schools for their children: public free schools, private paid schools, or private subsidized schools, for which parents have to co-pay some level of tuition fees. This law seeks to discontinue the co-payment system and thereby eliminate selection based on the financing capacity of families where public funding is involved. |
| · | Discontinuation of Discriminatory Admissions Process in Public and Semi-Public Schools: This measure forbids any kind of arbitrary selection process that discriminates against students on socioeconomic, academic or cultural basis. It aims to reduce segregation and to guarantee the right of parents to choose any school for their children. |
| · | Regulation of Preschool Education: This law creates the Undersecretary of Preschool Education, who is tasked with defining educational policies, as well as the Superindentency of Preschool Education to regulate and oversee the attainment of the policy objectives at the preschool level. |
| · | Provisional Administration of At-Risk Schools: Offices of provisional administrator and closure administrator for higher education where established. These government officials are charged with taking over higher education institutions that face challenges to their sustainability, to ensure the continuity of studies by its students. The law containing this measure entered into force in December 2014. |
Other educational programs and initiatives are being considered proactively by the government, such as the creation of more than 500 preschools throughout the country, the establishment of a nationwide network of technical education institutes and the creation of a new scheme to finance and administer schools currently in the hands of municipalities and the development of a national policy framework to strengthen the career paths of school teachers.
Law No. 20,835, enacted on May 5, 2015, as amended by Law No. 20,905, created the Undersecretary of Pre-school Education, who is in charge of defining educational policies, at preschool level, as well as the Superindentency of Pre-school Education to regulate and oversee compliance with policy objectives at preschool level.
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On June 8, 2015, Law No. 20,845 on School Inclusion was enacted, which regulates the admission process to school education, abolishes co-payment obligations for parents of children that attend private subsidized schools and prohibits profit in schools that receive public funds. Law No. 20,845 became effective on March 1, 2016.
In November 2015, the National Public Education System (Sistema Nacional de Educación Pública) bill was submitted to Congress and was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in July 2016. The bill seeks to strengthen the quality of education received by children, adolescents and adults who attend public educational institutions.
Law No. 20,890, enacted on December 26, 2015, modifies and supplements Law 20,882 (the 2016 Budget Law) and provides for allocations of funds for public and private non-profit universities (with at least four years of track record). These funds will enable students of low income families to access such institutions on a tuition fee basis and to establish a scholarship program for students attending technical educational institutions.
President Bachelet’s education reform is expected to be financed, in part, with funds raised through the 2014 tax reform, which was approved by Congress in September 2014. See “Public Sector Finances—Government Revenue—Recent Tax Reform.”
Modernization of the State
Public sector modernization is one of Chile’s top policy priorities. Recent governments have undertaken to modernize the state by building a more efficient and transparent public administration, and by improving coordination between public institutions at different levels of government. This program involved multiple reforms, such as:
| · | the creation of new public institutions in the areas of culture, infrastructure, social development, economic development, anti-trust regulation, environmental protection and public enterprise administration; |
| · | the decentralization of public sector institutions; |
| · | promoting competition among public institutions and improved performance in part through greater flexibility in budget allocations to those institutions; |
| · | the increased use of information technology; |
| · | increased citizen participation and broad protection of citizens’ rights; and |
| · | the establishment of simpler mechanisms for disseminating information, greater accountability of public authorities and internal auditing. |
Innovation Fund for Competitiveness
In 2006, the government established the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness (Fondo de Innovación para la Competitividad). The fund’s endowment must be invested in sciences, applied technology and education. Beginning in 2008, 25% of the annual resources provided to the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness were distributed to Regions to support local initiatives. In 2010, 2011 and 2012, the fund’s endowment grew in real terms by 10.5%, 3.0% and 2.0%, respectively, receiving contributions that in nominal terms exceeded US$224 million, US$259 million and US$262 million, respectively. In 2013, the government’s US$197 million allocation to the fund was 13.3% lower than the allocation in 2012, in real terms. This reduction was due to a change in the way resources are allocated to the Regions; beginning in 2013, rather than allocating funds earmarked for Regions to the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness, those funds were distributed directly to the corresponding Regional budget. In 2015, the government applied US$208 million to the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness (Fondo de Innovación para la Competitividad) and for 2016, the government has allocated an estimated US$206 million.
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Transparency
To control the selection process of senior public servants, a new specialized entity was created, the National Civil Service Authority (Dirección Nacional del Servicio Civil), which became fully operational in 2004. With the implementation of these rules, the president’s power to appoint public officials decreased from 3,110 to 600 posts (with the remaining 2,510 being appointed by the National Civil Service Authority). In addition, the role of performance-related compensation in the public sector was increased to improve productivity.
Chile has regulations relating to the financing of political campaigns for public office that are designed to limit the risk of improper financial influence in the conduct of voting campaigns. Regulations have also been adopted to ensure a competitive, standardized and transparent government procurement process that operates electronically.
In 2005, the principles of probity and transparency of acts of the government were formally incorporated into the Constitution. These changes were intended to guarantee that public officials’ decisions are taken free from corruption or undue influence and that actions and decisions taken by public officials are generally open to public scrutiny.
Commencing in 2006, the government focused on enhancing access to public information. In August 2008, an Access to Public Information Law was introduced, establishing a new legal framework that obliges all state administrative agencies to provide citizens with the information they request and to generally make information more available. A four-member Transparency Council (Consejo para la Transparencia) was created to oversee the enforcement of the law, which has resulted in government agencies making public previously privileged information.
In January 2007, Chile acceded to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, with the purpose of participating in the first global legislative instrument against corruption.
During the OECD admission process in 2009, Congress passed legislation reforming the corporate governance rules applicable to Codelco and private enterprises. In addition, the government introduced legislation to impose criminal liability on legal persons for money laundering, the financing of terrorism and bribery (Law No. 20,393 on Criminal Responsibility of Legal Entities for the Crimes of Money Laundering, Financing of Terrorism and Offenses of Bribery, passed on December 2009) and to enhance access to banking information.
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS AND FOREIGN TRADE
Balance of Payments
Chile’s external accounts reflect the country’s high degree of financial and trade integration with the rest of the world, a state of affairs that began in the 1970s with the trade liberalization process and was consolidated in 2001 through capital account liberalization. In terms of external accounts, Chile’s balance of payments registered a surplus between 1987 and 1997, largely attributable to dynamic exports and record capital inflows, specifically direct investments, portfolio investments and other medium- and long-term capital investments. Between 1999 and 2004, the Chilean economy generated modest surpluses or deficits in its balance of payments, including a deficit of US$596 million in 2001 and a surplus of US$199 million in 2002. Then, for two years, the Chilean economy produced considerable surpluses, amounting to US$1.7 billion in 2005 and US$2.0 billion in 2006. In 2007, the balance of payments recorded a deficit of US$3.2 billion, while in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, it recorded surpluses of US$6.4 billion, US$1.6 billion, US$3.0 billion and US$14.2 billion, respectively. In 2012, the balance of payments recorded a deficit of US$367 million. In 2013, 2014 and 2015 the balance of payments recorded surpluses of US$311 million, US$1.1 billion and US$211 million, respectively.
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Current Account
The current account involves movements of the trade balance, non-financial services (mainly trade-related services, such as insurance and transportation fees and travel services), net interest payments, dividends and transfer payments (primarily taxes).
The government believes that there have been and remain many economically viable investment projects and opportunities in Chile requiring the use of foreign savings. The government also believes that given the stage of Chile’s economic development, the level of aggregate domestic demand will generally exceed the level of national income, resulting in current account trade deficits. However, between 2004 and 2007, due to government savings resulting from copper revenues, Chile’s current account registered surpluses averaging 3.2% of GDP. The trade balance deteriorated in 2008 resulting in a current account deficit of 3.2% of GDP, but in 2009 and 2010 the current account registered a surplus of 2.0% of GDP and 1.7% of GDP, respectively. The current account registered deficits of 1.2%, 3.5%, 3.7%, 1.3% and 2.0% of GDP in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively.
After reaching a merchandise trade surplus of US$24.1 billion in 2007, Chile’s merchandise trade surplus declined from 2009 onwards. The 2009 economic crisis affected global trade, resulting in decreases in Chile’s imports and, to a lesser extent, exports during 2009. As a result, Chile recorded a trade surplus of US$15.4 billion in 2009. In 2010, the trade balance surplus reached US$15.9 billion, despite an increase of US$15.1 billion in imports. The merchandise trade surplus decreased to US$11.0, US$2.3 and US$1.7 in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively, as imports grew significantly while exports declined in 2012 and 2013 after having reached US$81.4 billion in 2011. In 2015, the merchandise trade surplus again decreased, reaching US$3.5 billion driven by a decrease in exports at a pace that exceeded significantly the decrease of imports.
Capital Account and Financial Account
The capital account balance records net capital transfers (inflows and outflows) payable between residents and non-residents and net acquisitions and dispositions of non-financial assets between residents and non-residents. The financial account records the net acquisitions and disposals of financial assets and liabilities involving residents and non-residents.
During the 1990s, Chile conducted a gradual process of capital account liberalization, designed to attain full integration in the international capital markets, while avoiding major disruptions that could endanger macroeconomic and financial stability during the process. The capital account opening was fully completed in April 2001, when the Chilean Central Bank removed the remaining restrictions on foreign exchange operations, including among others, the mandatory and unremunerated reserve requirement of a portion of capital inflows (known as encaje) and the authorization requirement that was in place for a number of foreign investment inflows; though it kept the power to reinstate these measures or adopt new ones. In addition, the government has developed a number of actions to promote greater international diversification of the portfolio of domestic investors, such as broadening the range of permitted investments abroad by regulated Chilean institutional investors. As a result, the total volume of capital inflows and outflows has been increasing.
The Chilean Central Bank may request that a certain number of foreign exchange operations be made through the formal exchange market (Mercado Cambiario Formal), which is composed of banks and other entities authorized by the Chilean Central Bank, such as securities brokers, exchange bureaus and legal persons created with the exclusive purpose of participating in the market.
Additionally, the free trade agreement between Chile and the U.S. provides that Chile shall not be liable for damages arising from the imposition of restrictive measures with regard to payments and transfers made within a year from the date on which the restrictions were imposed, provided that such restrictive measures do not substantially impede exchange transfers.
In furtherance of the capital account liberalization, the government took steps to integrate foreign and domestic financial markets and encourage foreign investors to invest in the local debt market. In 2003, Chile launched a program for the periodic domestic issuance of treasury bonds to promote the development of long-term pricing benchmarks and increase the depth of the fixed income market. See “Public Sector Debt—Central Government Internal Bonds.”
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In 2010, the capital account recorded a US$6.2 billion surplus resulting from insurance payments accrued to residents on account of damages suffered as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. Between 2011 and 2014, the capital account did not record significant surpluses or deficits. In 2015, the capital account registered a surplus of US$585 million.
The financial account (excluding change in reserves) has shown volatility, registering US$(3.6) billion, US$(9.5) billion, US$(11.9) billion, US$(3.8) billion and US$(4.7) billion in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. This represented an amount equivalent to 1.4% of GDP, 3.6% of GDP, 4.3% of GDP, 1.5% of GDP and 2.0% of GDP in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. Fluctuations in the financial account are primarily driven by shifts in portfolio investments, which given Chile’s high degree of integration with the international capital markets, are largely responsive to changes in domestic and international capital market conditions. The following table sets forth Chile’s Balance of Payments for the periods indicated:
Balance of Payments
(in millions of US$)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Current account | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Current account, net | (3,088 | ) | (9,375 | ) | (10,311 | ) | (3,316 | ) | (4,762 | ) | ||||||||||
| Goods and Services, net | 7,967 | (411 | ) | (2,022 | ) | 2,526 | (317 | ) | ||||||||||||
| Merchandise Trade Balance | 11,040 | 2,333 | 1,708 | 6,344 | 3,494 | |||||||||||||||
| Exports | 81,438 | 77,791 | 76,386 | 74,924 | 62,232 | |||||||||||||||
| Imports | 70,398 | 75,458 | 74,678 | 68,580 | 58,738 | |||||||||||||||
| Services | (3,073 | ) | (2,744 | ) | (3,730 | ) | (3,818 | ) | (3,812 | ) | ||||||||||
| Credits | 13,105 | 12,387 | 12,355 | 11,011 | 9,777 | |||||||||||||||
| Debits | 16,178 | 15,131 | 16,085 | 14,829 | 13,589 | |||||||||||||||
| Interest, net | (13,920 | ) | (11,025 | ) | (10,405 | ) | (7,692 | ) | (6,194 | ) | ||||||||||
| Interest from investment | (13,921 | ) | (10,970 | ) | (10,233 | ) | (7,538 | ) | (6,067 | ) | ||||||||||
| Interest from direct investment(1) | (13,771 | ) | (11,888 | ) | (10,806 | ) | (7,798 | ) | (6,025 | ) | ||||||||||
| Abroad | 4,422 | 4,265 | 4,344 | 4,472 | 3,327 | |||||||||||||||
| From abroad | (18,193 | ) | 16,153 | 15,150 | 12,270 | 9,352 | ||||||||||||||
| Interest from portfolio investment | 350 | 1,150 | 687 | 412 | 208 | |||||||||||||||
| Dividends | 1,109 | 1,900 | 1,619 | 1,538 | 1,738 | |||||||||||||||
| Interest | (759 | ) | (750 | ) | (932 | ) | (1,127 | ) | (1,530 | ) | ||||||||||
| Interest from other investment | (501 | ) | (231 | ) | (114 | ) | (151 | ) | (250 | ) | ||||||||||
| Credits | 475 | 706 | 764 | 654 | 584 | |||||||||||||||
| Debits | 975 | 937 | 878 | 805 | 834 | |||||||||||||||
| Current transfers, net | 2,865 | 2,060 | 2,115 | 1,849 | 1,750 | |||||||||||||||
| Government transfers | 2,565 | 1,995 | 2,152 | 1,992 | 1,830 | |||||||||||||||
| Other sectors transfers | 300 | 65 | -37 | -142 | -80 | |||||||||||||||
| Capital and financial accounts | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital and financial accounts, net | (3,626 | ) | (9,510 | ) | (11,909 | ) | (3,833 | ) | (4,156 | ) | ||||||||||
| Capital account, net | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 585 | |||||||||||||||
| Financial account, net | (3,638 | ) | (9,521 | ) | (11,920 | ) | (3,844 | ) | (4,741 | ) | ||||||||||
| Direct investment, net | (3,057 | ) | (7,938 | ) | (9,490 | ) | (9,427 | ) | (4,663 | ) | ||||||||||
| Direct investment abroad | 20,252 | 20,555 | 9,872 | 12,915 | 15,794 | |||||||||||||||
| Shares and other capital | 6,838 | 9,401 | 10,188 | 7,937 | 2,864 | |||||||||||||||
| Earnings reinvested | 4,063 | 3,322 | 3,020 | 3,363 | 2,308 | |||||||||||||||
| Other capital | 9,351 | 7,833 | (3,336 | ) | 1,614 | 10,621 | ||||||||||||||
| Direct investment to Chile | 23,309 | 28,493 | 19,362 | 22,342 | 20,457 | |||||||||||||||
| Shares and other capital | 10,921 | 8,532 | 4,806 | 10,685 | 6,438 | |||||||||||||||
| Earnings reinvested | 9,226 | 9,085 | 5,973 | 3,234 | 3,974 | |||||||||||||||
| Other capital(2) | 3,162 | 10,876 | 8,584 | 8,423 | 10,045 | |||||||||||||||
| Portfolio investment, net | (11,483 | ) | 4,280 | (4,722 | ) | (4,045 | ) | (2,553 | ) | |||||||||||
| Assets | (798 | ) | 15,373 | 10,668 | 8,710 | 437 | ||||||||||||||
| Liabilities | 10,685 | 11,093 | 15,390 | 12,755 | 2,990 | |||||||||||||||
| Derived financial instruments, net | 2,418 | (10 | ) | 1,005 | 1,612 | 933 | ||||||||||||||
| Other Investment, net(3) | (5,705 | ) | (5,486 | ) | 976 | 6,960 | 1,332 | |||||||||||||
| Assets | (662 | ) | (2,332 | ) | (1,093 | ) | 3,814 | (1,916 | ) | |||||||||||
| Commercial credits | 1,175 | (308 | ) | (909 | ) | (313 | ) | (1,661 | ) | |||||||||||
| Loans | 263 | 63 | 39 | 81 | (827 | ) | ||||||||||||||
| Currency and deposits | (416 | ) | (844 | ) | 315 | 4,046 | 172 | |||||||||||||
| Other assets | (1,684 | ) | (1,242 | ) | (539 | ) | — | 400 | ||||||||||||
| Liabilities | 5,043 | 3,154 | (2,069 | ) | (3,146 | ) | (3,248 | ) | ||||||||||||
| Commercial credits | 1,583 | (316 | ) | (639 | ) | (1,512 | ) | (1,387 | ) | |||||||||||
| Loans(3) | 3,566 | 2,839 | (1,347 | ) | (1,534 | ) | (2,050 | ) | ||||||||||||
| Currency and deposits | (118 | ) | 618 | (65 | ) | (104 | ) | 202 | ||||||||||||
| Other liabilities | 12 | 14 | (19 | ) | 5 | (13 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Assets in reserve, net | 14,190 | (367 | ) | 311 | 1,057 | 211 | ||||||||||||||
| Errors and omissions, net | (562 | ) | (158 | ) | (1,620 | ) | (537 | ) | (564 | ) | ||||||||||
| Financial account (excluding change in reserves) | US$ (17,828 | ) | US$ (9,155 | ) | US$ (12,232 | ) | US$ (4,901 | ) | US$(4,952 | ) | ||||||||||
| Total balance of payments | US$ 14,190 | US$ (367) | US$ 311 | US$ 1,057 | US$ 211 | |||||||||||||||
(1) Includes interest.
| (2) | Net flows of liabilities by loans. |
| (3) | Short term net flows. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
| D-50 |
Foreign Trade
Chile has generally followed an outward-oriented economic development strategy. Chile’s main trade policy objective is to improve and ensure access for its goods and services to all markets, as well as to encourage domestic and foreign investment. With a view to liberalizing the economy, all available channels have been used to give Chile’s trade policy an outward orientation, including unilaterally opening its markets and entering into bilateral and multilateral trade agreements.
Chile’s open trade policy covers goods, services and investments. Pursuant to its open trade policy, Chile’s applied MFN tariff was unilaterally phased down from 11.0% to 6.0% between 1999 and 2003. Since 2003, this uniform overall tariff has been maintained unchanged as a 6.0% ad valorem duty on imports for most products, which makes up over 98.0% of tariff lines. This low and uniform tariff is a distinctive feature of Chile’s trade policy.
Chile has effectively lowered its applied tariff rate to 0.9% (the 2014 average), as compared to 2.9% in 2003 through the implementation of free trade and other agreements.
Chile currently has 25 bilateral agreements with 64 trading partners that represented 93% of its overall trade in May 2016 (imports and exports, both MFN and preferential). The trading partners with which Chile has signed agreements with are the P-4 (New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam), the European Union, Canada, the Republic of Korea, China, Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua), the United States, Hong Kong, Mexico, EFTA (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), Panama, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Mercosur (Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), Bolivia, Malaysia, Japan, India, Australia, Turkey, Cuba, Vietnam and Thailand. Chile is a founding member of the Pacific Alliance (with Colombia, Mexico and Peru).
Chile is a founding member of the World Trade Organization.
Since 1994, Chile has been a member of, and an active participant in, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. In recent years, the Asia-Pacific region has become a priority for Chilean trade policy. Initiatives have been launched within the APEC framework to facilitate trade, including mutual recognition agreements and free trade agreements.
During January 2016, Chile concluded trade negotiations with the Transpacific Partnership (P-4, Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the United States and Vietnam). The corresponding agreement was signed by the member countries on February 4, 2016. Chile is also negotiating a trade agreement with Indonesia.
On January 5, 2016, the Senate approved an additional protocol to the Pacific Alliance, which is expected to decrease to 0% tariffs applicable to 92% of the goods traded among the members of the Alliance. The protocol was implemented by Chile on May 1, 2016.
Merchandise Trade
Chilean trading activity is diversified among countries in the Americas, Asia and Europe.
The primary countries of origin of Chile’s imports in 2015 were China (from where 23.4% of total imports originated), the United States (18.8%), Brazil (7.8%), Argentina (4.0%), Germany (3.8%) and Mexico (3.4%). The primary destinations of Chile’s exports in 2015 were China (which received 26.3% of total exports), the United States (13.1%), Japan (8.5%), South Korea (6.5%), Brazil (4.9%), India (3.1%), the Netherlands (2.6%), Peru (2.6%), Taiwan (2.3%), Spain (2.1%) and Mexico (2.2%). The origins and destinations of Chile’s exports in 2015 have remained stable compared to 2014, except for imports from China that have grown from 24.3% to 26.3%. During 2015, the proportion of Chile’s exports to Asia grew from 48.9% to 49.5%, while the proportion of Chile’s exports to North America grew from 15.7% to 17.3%, as compared to 2014. Further, Chile’s geographical distribution of its imports during 2015, experienced some changes, for example, imports from South America and North America decreased from 20.4% to 18.5% and 24.6% to 23.4% respectively, while imports from Asia have grown from 31.7% to 35.8%.
| D-51 |
Merchandise exports (which exclude merchandise in tax free zones) have diversified and increased over time. They amounted to US$81.4 billion in 2011, US$77.8 billion in 2012, US$76.4 billion in 2013, US$74.9 billion in 2014 and US$62.2 billion in 2015. Traditional merchandise exports (mining products — principally copper) increased by almost three times in real terms between 2003 and 2015, while total merchandise exports increased almost twofold, showing the diversification of Chilean exports. Since the mid-1980s, Chile has increased its exports of nontraditional goods, principally seafood, agricultural products and wine. Imports totaled US$74.7 billion in 2011, US$80.1 billion in 2012, US$79.2 billion in 2013, US$72.8 billion in 2014 and US$62.5 in 2015. The fluctuations in imports are mainly explained by variations in the terms of trade and exchange rates. The largest portion of Chile’s imports consists of intermediate goods, such as oil and others fossil fuels, which accounted for 52.1% of total imports in 2015. The share of total imports, represented by consumer goods imports has remained relatively stable since 2011, 25.0% in 2011, 24.7% in 2012, 27.3% in 2013, 27.4% in 2014 and 29.1% in 2015. Imports of capital goods have also remained relatively stable as a percentage of total imports since 2011, representing 18.5% in 2011, 20.7% in 2012, 19.3% in 2013, 17.8% in 2014 and 18.7% in 2015. The following tables set forth information on exports and imports for the periods indicated:
Exports of Goods (FOB)
(in millions of US$ and % of total exports)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mining and quarrying: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copper | 44,670.0 | 54.9 | % | 41,954.6 | 53.9 | % | 39,946.3 | 52.3 | % | 37,362.7 | 49.9 | % | 30,253.5 | 48.6 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iron | 1,609.6 | 2.0 | % | 1,338.6 | 1.7 | % | 1,375.1 | 1.8 | % | 1,096.7 | 1.5 | % | 701.0 | 1.1 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Silver | 688.9 | 0.8 | % | 600.7 | 0.8 | % | 371.5 | 0.5 | % | 258.8 | 0.3 | % | 210.6 | 0.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gold | 1,456.4 | 1.8 | % | 1,649.3 | 2.1 | % | 1,379.2 | 1.8 | % | 1,008.8 | 1.3 | % | 777.7 | 1.2 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Molybdenum | 224.9 | 0.3 | % | 283.8 | 0.4 | % | 170.6 | 0.2 | % | 209.2 | 0.3 | % | 171.5 | 0.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 433.2 | 0.5 | % | 432.4 | 0.6 | % | 457.8 | 0.6 | % | 548.5 | 0.7 | % | 553.1 | 0.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total mining and quarrying | 49,083.0 | 60.3 | % | 46,259.5 | 59.5 | % | 43,700.3 | 57.2 | % | 40,484.8 | 54.0 | % | 32,667.4 | 52.5 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Agriculture and livestock, forestry and fishing and aquaculture: | 4,173.4 | 5.1 | % | 4,165.4 | 5.1 | % | 4,627.7 | 5.7 | % | 4,751.0 | 5.8 | % | 4,549.0 | 5.6 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fruit | 25.1 | 0.0 | % | 23.6 | 0.0 | % | 31.3 | 0.0 | % | 32.2 | 0.0 | % | 29.3 | 0.0 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Forestry | 770.2 | 0.9 | % | 829.6 | 1.0 | % | 988.2 | 1.2 | % | 847.1 | 1.0 | % | 655.3 | 0.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 49,083.0 | 60.3 | % | 46,259.5 | 59.5 | % | 43,700.3 | 57.2 | % | 40,484.8 | 54.0 | % | 32,667.4 | 52.5 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total agriculture and livestock, forestry and fishing and aquaculture | 4,968.7 | 6.1 | % | 5,018.6 | 6.2 | % | 5,647.2 | 6.9 | % | 5,630.3 | 6.9 | % | 5,233.5 | 6.4 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Industrial: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fishmeal | 476.0 | 0.6 | % | 442.7 | 0.5 | % | 415.9 | 0.5 | % | 428.3 | 0.5 | % | 358.3 | 0.4 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Salmon | 1,852.2 | 2.3 | % | 1,981.8 | 2.4 | % | 2,782.1 | 3.4 | % | 3,649.1 | 4.5 | % | 3,074.2 | 3.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Beverages and Tobacco | 2,120.3 | 2.6 | % | 2,237.9 | 2.7 | % | 2,329.2 | 2.9 | % | 2,310.8 | 2.8 | % | 2,273.6 | 2.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Forestry and wooden furniture | 2,224.6 | 2.7 | % | 2,121.9 | 2.6 | % | 2,261.3 | 2.8 | % | 2,546.9 | 3.1 | % | 2,289.5 | 2.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pulp, paper and others | 3,624.9 | 4.5 | % | 3,284.9 | 4.0 | % | 3,528.0 | 4.3 | % | 3,558.3 | 4.4 | % | 3,165.2 | 3.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chemicals | 6,076.8 | 7.5 | % | 5,997.2 | 7.4 | % | 5,305.4 | 6.5 | % | 5,422.2 | 6.7 | % | 4,386.4 | 5.4 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 11,011.2 | 13.5 | % | 10,446.0 | 12.8 | % | 10,416.8 | 12.8 | % | 10,893.1 | 13.4 | % | 8,784.0 | 10.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total industrial | 27,386.1 | 33.6 | % | 26,512.6 | 32.6 | % | 27,038.7 | 33.2 | % | 28,808.8 | 35.4 | % | 24,331.2 | 29.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total exports | 81,437.8 | 100.0 | 77,790.6 | 100.0 | 76,386.3 | 100.0 | 74,923.9 | 100.0 | 62,232.1 | 100.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
| D-52 |
Imports of Goods (CIF)(1)
(in millions of US$ and % of total imports)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consumer goods: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cars | 3,112.5 | 4.2 | % | 3,094.2 | 3.9 | % | 3,631.6 | 4.6 | % | 3,043.2 | 4.2 | % | 2,656.7 | 4.2 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wearing apparel | 2,482.6 | 3.3 | % | 2,655.5 | 3.3 | % | 2,886.0 | 3.6 | % | 2,904.7 | 4.0 | % | 2,686.9 | 4.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cell phone | 1,204.2 | 1.6 | % | 1,485.9 | 1.9 | % | 1,809.8 | 2.3 | % | 1,361.1 | 1.9 | % | 1,561.9 | 2.5 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Footwear | 858.0 | 1.1 | % | 940.8 | 1.2 | % | 1,068.6 | 1.3 | % | 1,032.5 | 1.4 | % | 972.0 | 1.6 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meat | 889.7 | 1.2 | % | 912.1 | 1.1 | % | 997.7 | 1.3 | % | 991.8 | 1.4 | % | 914.1 | 1.5 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other food | 824.0 | 1.1 | % | 888.5 | 1.1 | % | 938.6 | 1.2 | % | 948.9 | 1.3 | % | 922.6 | 1.5 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Televisions | 718.7 | 1.0 | % | 814.1 | 1.0 | % | 771.5 | 1.0 | % | 750.6 | 1.0 | % | 576.9 | 0.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 8,575.9 | 11.5 | % | 9,020.7 | 11.3 | % | 9,552.6 | 12.1 | % | 8,888.2 | 12.2 | % | 7,913.1 | 12.7 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total consumer goods | 18,665.6 | 25.0 | % | 19,811.7 | 24.7 | % | 21,656.3 | 27.3 | % | 19,920.9 | 27.4 | % | 18,204.3 | 29.1 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Intermediate goods: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crude oil | 6,495.6 | 8.7 | % | 6,107.8 | 7.6 | % | 6,633.4 | 8.4 | % | 6,040.6 | 8.3 | % | 2,874.4 | 4.6 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diesel | 4,169.3 | 5.6 | % | 4,823.6 | 6.0 | % | 4,382.2 | 5.5 | % | 3,913.0 | 5.4 | % | 2,501.6 | 4.0 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parts and other machinery and equipment | 3,961.0 | 5.3 | % | 4,116.1 | 5.1 | % | 4,185.8 | 5.3 | % | 4,030.4 | 5.5 | % | 3,924.7 | 6.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chemicals | 3,824.5 | 5.1 | % | 4,108.0 | 5.1 | % | 3,974.0 | 5.0 | % | 3,780.1 | 5.2 | % | 3,558.2 | 5.7 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Metal products | 2,815.7 | 3.8 | % | 3,195.2 | 4.0 | % | 3,035.1 | 3.8 | % | 3,011.5 | 4.1 | % | 3,003.5 | 4.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Liquefied natural gas | 1,618.6 | 2.2 | % | 1,623.4 | 2.0 | % | 1,000.5 | 1.3 | % | 1,154.0 | 1.6 | % | 801.0 | 1.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carbon mineral | 1,178.2 | 1.6 | % | 1,147.8 | 1.4 | % | 1,089.6 | 1.4 | % | 917.5 | 1.3 | % | 751.0 | 1.2 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fertilizer | 1,014.4 | 1.4 | % | 1,027.8 | 1.3 | % | 1,014.3 | 1.3 | % | 947.1 | 1.3 | % | 980.6 | 1.6 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lubricant oil | 1,670.5 | 2.2 | % | 1,402.6 | 1.8 | % | 1,084.7 | 1.4 | % | 819.9 | 1.1 | % | 521.1 | 0.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fiber and fabric | 779.3 | 1.0 | % | 796.1 | 1.0 | % | 797.5 | 1.0 | % | 807.4 | 1.1 | % | 755.3 | 1.2 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 14,660.1 | 19.6 | % | 15,358.1 | 19.2 | % | 15,127.7 | 19.1 | % | 14,532.0 | 20.0 | % | 12,927.5 | 20.7 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total intermediate goods | 42,187.3 | 56.5 | % | 43,706.3 | 54.6 | % | 42,324.6 | 53.4 | % | 39,953.6 | 54.9 | % | 32,598.8 | 52.1 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital goods: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Trucks and cargo vehicles | 2,425.8 | 3.2 | % | 2,763.9 | 3.5 | % | 2,358.1 | 3.0 | % | 1,749.7 | 2.4 | % | 1,512.0 | 2.4 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Motors, generators and electrical transformers | 481.3 | 0.6 | % | 595.3 | 0.7 | % | 808.6 | 1.0 | % | 1,020.0 | 1.4 | % | 815.9 | 1.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Machinery for mining and construction | 1,634.2 | 2.2 | % | 1,984.7 | 2.5 | % | 1,681.1 | 2.1 | % | 746.9 | 1.0 | % | 735.4 | 1.2 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medical devices | 754.9 | 1.0 | % | 854.8 | 1.1 | % | 864.2 | 1.1 | % | 821.0 | 1.1 | % | 824.2 | 1.3 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other machinery | 2,627.3 | 3.5 | % | 2,815.4 | 3.5 | % | 3,049.1 | 3.8 | % | 2,626.7 | 3.6 | % | 2,352.6 | 3.8 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other transport vehicles | 1,043.3 | 1.4 | % | 2,851.1 | 3.6 | % | 1,547.2 | 2.0 | % | 1,759.4 | 2.4 | % | 1,156.6 | 1.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 4,875.4 | 6.5 | % | 4,690.2 | 5.9 | % | 4,980.3 | 6.3 | % | 4,233.1 | 5.8 | % | 4,317.0 | 6.9 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total capital goods | 13,842.1 | 18.5 | % | 16,555.4 | 20.7 | % | 15,288.5 | 19.3 | % | 12,956.8 | 17.8 | % | 11,713.6 | 18.7 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total imports | 74,694.9 | 100.0 | 80,073.4 | 100.0 | 79,269.5 | 100.0 | 72,831.4 | 100.0 | 62,516.7 | 100.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (1) | Only imports of general regime as classified by the Chilean Central Bank. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank
| D-53 |
Geographical Distribution of Merchandise Trade
(% of total exports/imports)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| EXPORTS (FOB) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Americas: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Argentina | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Brazil | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 5.4 | 4.9 | |||||||||||||||
| Mexico | 2.2 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 2.2 | |||||||||||||||
| United States | 11.0 | 12.3 | 12.7 | 12.3 | 13.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Other | 10.6 | 10.6 | 10.9 | 10.8 | 11.5 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Americas: | 30.9 | % | 31.5 | % | 32.5 | % | 31.6 | % | 33 | % | ||||||||||
| Europe: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| France | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Germany | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Italy | 3.3 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 1.8 | |||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.1 | |||||||||||||||
| EFTA | 1.0 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.9 | |||||||||||||||
| Other | 11.5 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 9.9 | 9.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Europe: | 19.8 | % | 17.9 | % | 17.4 | % | 17.2 | % | 15.6 | % | ||||||||||
| Asia: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Japan | 11.2 | 10.7 | 9.8 | 9.8 | 8.5 | |||||||||||||||
| South Korea | 5.5 | 5.8 | 5.5 | 6.2 | 6.5 | |||||||||||||||
| Taiwan | 2.5 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.3 | |||||||||||||||
| China | 22.9 | 23.2 | 25.0 | 24.3 | 26.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Other | 5.2 | 5.9 | 5.6 | 6.1 | 5.9 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Asia: | 47.2 | % | 48.0 | % | 48.0 | % | 48.9 | % | 49.5 | % | ||||||||||
| Other:(1) | 2.2 | % | 2.6 | % | 2.1 | % | 2.4 | % | 1.8 | % | ||||||||||
| Total exports: | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | ||||||||||
| IMPORTS (CIF) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Americas: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Argentina | 6.3 | 6.6 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | |||||||||||||||
| Brazil | 8.3 | 6.5 | 6.4 | 7.8 | 7.8 | |||||||||||||||
| United States | 20.2 | 23.2 | 20.2 | 19.5 | 18.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Other | 14.9 | 16.0 | 15.9 | 15.8 | 13.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Americas: | 49.8 | % | 52.2 | % | 47.5 | % | 47.1 | % | 43.9 | % | ||||||||||
| Europe: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| France | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 2.5 | |||||||||||||||
| Germany | 4.2 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 3.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Italy | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.9 | |||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 1.8 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 0.9 | |||||||||||||||
| EFTA | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | |||||||||||||||
| Other | 5.0 | 5.5 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 7.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Europe: | 14.7 | % | 14.3 | % | 17.4 | % | 15.4 | % | 16.7 | % | ||||||||||
| Asia: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Japan | 3.9 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.3 | |||||||||||||||
| South Korea | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.2 | |||||||||||||||
| Taiwan | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | |||||||||||||||
| China | 16.9 | 18.0 | 19.9 | 20.6 | 23.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Other | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 5.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Asia: | 28.8 | % | 28.5 | % | 30.8 | % | 31.7 | % | 35.8 | % | ||||||||||
| Other:(1) | 6.7 | % | 4.9 | % | 4.3 | % | 4.9 | % | 3.6 | % | ||||||||||
| Total imports: | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | ||||||||||
| (1) | Includes Africa, Oceania and other countries, including those in tax free zones. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
Services Trade
Non-financial services include transportation, passenger services, port services and the travel industry. The travel industry, particularly tourism, is an important contributor to the service trade sector. In 2010, exported and imported services increased by 31.3% and 24.2%, respectively. During 2011, the exported and imported services increased by 17.5% and 24.0%, respectively, but decreased by 5.5% and 6.5%, respectively, in 2012 mainly due to declines in transportation services to Europe and Asia, and a decrease of other professional services to the Americas and Europe. During 2013, exported services remained unchanged and imported services increased by 6.3%, while in 2014 exported and imported services decreased by 10.9% and 7.8%. In 2015, exported and imported services decreased by 11.2% and 8.4%, respectively, mainly due to a reduction in exports and imports of transportation services to Asia, the Americas and Europe.
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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Chile’s constitutional and legal framework guarantees non-discrimination and equal treatment to foreign and local investors and gives foreign investors access to all economic sectors. The 1974 Foreign Investment Statute, known as DL 600, or DL600, sets forth the general rules applicable to foreign investors covering repatriation of capital, withdrawal of profits and access to the formal exchange market. It establishes different kinds of investment, including freely convertible currency, assets, technology, investment related credits and capitalized earnings. An alternative regime under which foreign investments may be made in Chile is Chapter XIV of the Chilean Central Bank’s Compendium of Foreign Exchange Regulations (Capítulo XIV del Compendio de Normas Internacionales del Banco Central de Chile). Under this regime, foreign investors may freely transfer into Chile capital contributions and loans through convertible foreign currency. Investors are required to inform the Chilean Central Bank of the transactions, but are not subject to prior registration or approval requirements.
Under DL 600, the Chilean Foreign Investment Committee, acting as the authorized representative of the government, enters into a legally binding contract with each foreign investor, which stipulates the term for which the investment or investments must be made. In the case of mining investments, the period during which the investments in Chile may be made is generally 8 to 12 years. In all other economic sectors, such period is generally three years. Between 2009 and 2012, investments made through the DL 600 mechanism amounted to approximately US$20.5 billion. A considerable number of foreign investors (representing approximately 25.4% of the total FDI inflows during the period from 2009 to 2012) have chosen to use DL 600 instead of relying upon the Chilean Central Bank’s Compendium of Foreign Exchange Regulations. The annual average FDI in Chile made under the DL 600 regime from 2009 to 2012 was US$5.1 billion.
FDI inflows made in Chile between 2009 and 2013 totaled US$100.9 billion, and primarily originated from the United States (16.7%), Netherlands (14.8%), Spain (10.4%), Canada (5.1%), United Kingdom (4.3%) and Japan (3.8%). During that period, FDI originating from Europe and the Americas accounted in the aggregate for 36.1% and 35.9% of total FDI, respectively.
Between 2009 and 2013, mining accounted for 44.9% of total FDI; financial services (banking, insurance, investment companies, investment funds, risk capital investment funds and other financial services) accounted for 13.4%; electricity, gas and water supply accounted for 10.2%; and manufacturing accounted for 4.7%.
The 2014 tax reform enacted by Law No. 20,780 revoked DL600 effective as of January 2016. However, existing agreements under DL600 remain in full force and effect. In January 2015, the government submitted a bill to Congress proposing a new legal framework for the regulation of FDI, which was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in April 2013 and is pending discussion by the Senate. The new legal framework would guarantee access to the “formal exchange market,” allowing banks and other authorized entities to trade in currencies, and allow entities to remit capital and profits abroad. The proposed legislation would also prohibit arbitrary discrimination and contemplates an exemption from value added tax (VAT) for sales of goods that meet certain requirements. The bill also provides for the creation of a special committee of Ministers to advise the president on the adoption of national policies regarding foreign investment, as well as an administrative agency to implement new policies on foreign investment.
Further, the proposed legislation provides a transitional regime that maintains the effectiveness of agreements entered into under DL600. This bill also ensures a stable income tax rate of 44.45% for a period of four years in exceptional cases.
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The following table presents foreign direct investment, including capital and debt, between 2010 and 2014 by sector:
Stock of Foreign Direct Investment (1)
(in millions of US$)
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | ||||||||||||||||
| Agriculture and Fishing | 1,024 | 1,018 | 876 | 921 | 928 | |||||||||||||||
| Mining | 35,070 | 53,729 | 69,363 | 73,232 | 80,136 | |||||||||||||||
| Manufacturing industries | 5,337 | 6,938 | 9,212 | 11,030 | 12,858 | |||||||||||||||
| Electricity, gas and water supply | 10,671 | 10,319 | 10,896 | 13,102 | 15,626 | |||||||||||||||
| Construction | 444 | 612 | 950 | 1,241 | 1,525 | |||||||||||||||
| Wholesale and retail trade | 2,315 | 2,668 | 2,992 | 3,450 | 7,695 | |||||||||||||||
| Hotels and restaurants | 99 | 100 | 136 | 146 | 146 | |||||||||||||||
| Transport and storage | 2,668 | 3,349 | 4,962 | 5,058 | 5,063 | |||||||||||||||
| Communications | 5,422 | 4,228 | 6,161 | 6,840 | 7,076 | |||||||||||||||
| Financial services | 16,201 | 20,797 | 21,567 | 24,642 | 26,950 | |||||||||||||||
| Engineering and business services | 3,019 | 4,107 | 4,352 | 4,056 | 3,981 | |||||||||||||||
| Other services | 281 | 986 | 1,277 | 2,448 | 2,453 | |||||||||||||||
| Not classified | 81,298 | 66,900 | 73,254 | 68,211 | 60,134 | |||||||||||||||
| Total | 163,849 | 175,753 | 205,999 | 214,378 | 224,573 | |||||||||||||||
| (1) | Including capital and debt. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
In August 2016, Congress passed a bill submitted by the government that provides for measures aimed at boosting productivity by expanding financing options, promoting the export of services and simplifying procedures for entrepreneurs and investors. The bill is intended to reduce the financial cost of factoring arrangements; diversify investment products available for pension funds and insurance companies by introducing new investment alternatives, including infrastructure projects; and simplify the tax collection system applied to interest accrued on local securities, to facilitate access to the Chilean securities’ market by foreign investors through foreign clearing systems; among other measures. The statute will come into force after its publication in the Official Gazette which, as of the date of this report, is still pending.
Role of the Chilean Central Bank
The 1980 Constitution defined the Chilean Central Bank as an autonomous legal entity. The Chilean Central Bank is governed by the 1989 Central Bank Act, which has the rank of a constitutional organic law. To the extent consistent with this law, the Chilean Central Bank is also subject to the private sector’s laws and regulations. The Chilean Central Bank is prohibited from lending funds to the government or buying government debt, either directly or indirectly, except in a state of war or danger thereof. The Chilean Central Bank is governed and managed by a Council composed of five members. The president of the Republic, with the prior consent of the Senate, appoints each member of the Council for staggered, renewable ten-year periods. One seat on the Council is subject to election every two years. The president of the Republic appoints the president of the Chilean Central Bank’s Council, who serves for a period of five years, from among the Council members. The quorum required for the Council to operate is three out of the five members, and the motions must be approved by a majority of those present. If the Council cannot reach a decision, the president of the Council casts the deciding vote.
According to the Central Bank Act, the main objective of the Chilean Central Bank is to maintain the stability of the Chilean currency and the orderly functioning of Chile’s internal and external payment system. To achieve these purposes, the Central Bank Act vests the Chilean Central Bank with the authority to set reserve requirements for banks, to regulate the amount of money and credit in circulation, to operate as a lender of last resort and to establish regulations and guidelines regarding financial institutions, the formal exchange market and bank deposit-taking activities. These attributes allow the Chilean Central Bank to implement a wide range of policy tools for controlling monetary and exchange rate policy.
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Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy, General Overview
The Chilean Central Bank’s monetary policy has generally focused on protecting the value of the country’s currency and seeking to keep the inflation rate low and stable. To fulfill this task, the Chilean Central Bank has followed a countercyclical strategy, which, in addition to preserving price stability, seeks to avoid extreme changes in domestic demand. In this sense, the Chilean Central Bank’s monetary policy intends to achieve price stability over time, taking into account the effects this policy has on economic activity and employment in the short and medium terms.
The Chilean Central Bank’s focus on price stability has translated into an inflation targeting monetary approach. Between 2001 and 2006, the Chilean Central Bank set a rolling 12-month target band for underlying inflation (which excluded goods with highly volatile prices such as fuel, oil and fresh vegetables) and a rolling 24-month target band for total inflation. Beginning in 2007, the Chilean Central Bank began setting a rolling two-year target band for underlying inflation, although the target band has remained between 2.0% and 4.0%, as it was in 2006.
With regard to exchange policy, an exchange rate band was in place from the mid-1980s until September 1999, when the Chilean Central Bank adopted a free-floating exchange rate regime, after a period of favorable monetary and exchange rate conditions. These circumstances included low and stable inflation, adequate financial regulation, an exchange rate within the set-floating band, development of exchange rate and financial hedging instruments, and improvements in private risk management. Hence, the introduction of the free-floating regime was achieved without shocks and rapidly led the Chilean currency to reflect its actual market value.
During the 1990s, the Chilean Central Bank also used reserve requirements (encaje) to prevent foreign currency inflows that could have affected the value of the Chilean peso. See “Balance of Payments and Foreign Trade—Balance of Payments—Capital Account.” A foreign exchange free-floating regime, however, does not mean the Chilean Central Bank cannot intervene in the market when it considers the currency to be moving too far from its equilibrium value, which could result in costly reversions. Nevertheless, these interventions take the form of transparent, well-founded measures, and include clearly delineated periods and amounts involved, as well as the clear explanation of the reasons behind these exceptional actions.
Monetary Policy and Interest Rate Evolution
The Chilean Central Bank’s monetary policy is based on an interest rate target. Since August 2001, when the bank shifted its monetary instrument from an indexed interest rate to a nominal one, the subject of the target has been the daily interbank nominal interest rate, known as the monetary policy rate (Tasa de Política Monetaria, or TPM). This measure was complemented by the gradual replacement of short-term inflation-indexed debt securities denominated in UF with new medium-term debt securities denominated in nominal pesos.
The use of nominal rather than real interest rates is part of the modernization of the Chilean Central Bank’s monetary policy framework. This process allows a reduction in the volatility of nominal instruments, especially exchange rate and monetary liquid aggregated volatility. It is also intended to simplify international financial integration, expedite risk management and increase the transparency of the interest rate itself.
To ensure that the TPM rate falls within the desired range, the Chilean Central Bank must regulate the financial system’s liquidity (measured in terms of reserves), using a set of instruments, including: (i) liquidity deposits, lines of credits and open market transactions; and (ii) buying and selling short-term promissory notes. These tools also incorporate the banking reserve deposits, although currently the Chilean Central Bank is not using this mechanism as an active monetary policy instrument.
Banks and other financial institutions maintain a liquidity deposit account with the Chilean Central Bank, where a one-day deposit can earn a predetermined interest rate. This rate establishes an effective lower threshold for short-term interest rates. Additionally, financial institutions have a liquidity credit line from the Chilean Central Bank for which they pay a predetermined overnight interest rate. This credit line is divided into three tranches: the first corresponds to 40.0% of the total credit line, and the second and third tranches are each 30.0% of the credit line. Each succeeding tranche has a higher interest rate, and the maximum credit line allowance equals 60.0% of each bank’s reserve requirements.
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As mentioned above, the Chilean Central Bank also conducts short-term liquidity management, mainly through repurchase agreements. Repurchase agreements are a complementary liquidity line for banks, for which the Chilean Central Bank announces a daily rate, and banks indicate which instruments they wish to sell to the Central Bank at that rate. To maintain the base interest rate at the desired level, the Chilean Central Bank conducts open-market transactions, buying repurchase agreements that use promissory notes with maturities of less than seven days or selling reverse repurchase agreements (which is the sale of an asset with a simultaneous agreement to repurchase the asset at a specified price).
The following table sets forth the Chilean Central Bank’s average interest rates for the periods indicated.
Chilean Central Bank Average Interest Rates
(in %)
BCP(1)(3) | BCU(2)(3) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | 5 years | 10 years | 5 years | 10 years | TPM | ||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 5.67 | 5.84 | 2.43 | 2.72 | 4.66 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | 5.26 | 5.42 | 2.37 | 2.44 | 5.01 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2013 | 5.14 | 5.25 | 2.28 | 2.36 | 4.93 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | — | — | — | — | 3.75 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | 4.14 | — | — | — | 3.06 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2016 (through June 30) | — | — | — | — | 3.50 | ||||||||||||||||
| (1) | BCP: Peso-denominated Chilean Central Bank notes. |
| (2) | BCU: UF-denominated Chilean Central Bank notes. |
| (3) | BCU and BCP are part of the inflation-indexed and peso-denominated financial instruments issued by the Chilean Central Bank since September 2003. See “—Monetary Policy and Interest Rate Evolution.” |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
The following table sets forth the Chilean Treasury’s average interest rates for the periods indicated.
Chilean Treasury Interest Rates
(in %)
BTP (1) | BTU (2) | ||||||||||||||||
Year | 5 years | 10 years | 5 years | 10 years | |||||||||||||
| 2011 | — | 6.03 | 2.55 | 2.80 | |||||||||||||
| 2012 | — | 5.59 | 2.36 | 2.56 | |||||||||||||
| 2013 | — | 5.26 | — | 2.33 | |||||||||||||
| 2014 | 4.26 | 4.71 | — | 1.70 | |||||||||||||
| 2015 | — | 4.47 | (3) | 1.12 | (4) | 1.61 | (5) | ||||||||||
| 2016 (through June 30) | 4.16 | (6) | 4.60 | (7) | 1.24 | (8) | — | ||||||||||
| (1) | BTP: Peso-denominated Chilean Treasury notes. |
| (2) | BTU: UF-denominated Chilean Treasury notes. |
| (3) | Issued April 22, 2015. |
| (4) | Issued September 2, 2015. |
| (5) | Issued May 20, 2015. |
| (6) | Issued April 27 and May 3, 2016. |
| (7) | Issued June 22, 2016. |
| (8) | Issued May 11, 2016. |
Source: Ministry of Finance.
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Inflation
Reversing policies from previous years, and following the Chilean Central Bank’s attainment of full autonomy in 1990, inflation was successfully curbed over the decade that followed, falling from 27.3% in 1990 to 4.5% in 2000. In 2001 the Chilean Central Bank adopted a target inflation band of 3.0% (+/- 1.0%) inflation over a 12-24 month policy horizon, which was modified to a two-year target band in 2007. Inflation is measured by the change in the CPI for the relevant calendar year, unless otherwise specified.
In 2011 inflation increased beyond the Chilean Central Bank’s acceptable tolerance range reaching 4.4%, mainly driven by higher food and fuel prices which experienced sharp increases in the first months of the year. In 2012, prices for goods recorded negative annual inflation rates while prices for services initially increased significantly but dropped in later months resulting in an annual inflation rate of 1.5%.
Inflation averaged 2.0% for most of 2013, although prices for goods and energy caused the annualized rate to increase to 3.0% in December.
In 2014, the annual inflation rate rose to 4.6% (year-on-year) in December, reflecting the significant depreciation of the Chilean peso and the influence of other specific and transitory elements. In 2015, the inflation rate is expected to remain above 4.0%.
As of December 31, 2015, the inflation rate stood at 4.4% (year-on-year). The TPM, which remained at 3.0% through September 2015, increased to 3.25% in October 2015 and to 3.5% in December 2015. As of March 31, 2016, the TPM stood at 3.50%.
One alternative metric for inflation is the Producer Price Index (PPI). The PPI measures the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services. While the CPI measures price change from the purchaser’s perspective, the PPI measures price change from the perspective of the producers.
The following table shows changes in the CPI and the PPI for the periods indicated.
Inflation
| Percent Change from Previous Year at Period End | ||||||||||
CPI | PPI(1) | |||||||||
| 2011 | 4.4 | (7.4 | ) | |||||||
| 2012 | 1.5 | (0.7 | ) | |||||||
| 2013 | 3.0 | (2.8 | ) | |||||||
| 2014 | 4.6 | (3.3 | ) | |||||||
| 2015 | 4.4 | (9.9 | ) | |||||||
| 2016 (June)(2) | 4.2 | (8.2 | ) | |||||||
| (1) | Manufacturing, mining and electricity, water, and gas distribution industries. |
| (2) | Difference from June 2015 to June 2016. |
Source: CPI, Chilean Central Bank. PPI, National Institute of Statistics.
Exchange Rate Policy
Between 1990 and 1999, the Chilean Central Bank’s exchange rate policy was aimed at restraining the appreciation of the peso against a basket of currencies via a crawling exchange rate band. From 1993 to 1997, the nominal exchange rate fluctuated within a narrow range around Ps.400/US$. Throughout the period, however, the real exchange rate appreciated due to the positive (although decreasing) inflation differential between Chile and its trade partners. The nominal stability of the peso resulted from two factors: capital inflows contributing appreciation pressure to the nominal exchange rate and the Chilean Central Bank counteracting this via regular (sterilized) interventions in the foreign exchange market inside the flotation band, and occasional increases in the coverage of unremunerated reserve requirements.
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In September 1999 the Chilean Central Bank dropped the crawling exchange rate bands for the Chilean peso, adopting a free floating exchange rate, although it retained the right to intervene when the exchange rate moved too far from its equilibrium value.
Between 2000 and 2006, the exchange rate presented two strong trend shifts.
Between 2000 and 2002, the peso was volatile and depreciated sharply because of the effects of the Argentine sovereign debt default and the disruption in international markets due to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This triggered a strong fall in copper prices, and low liquidity in the market coupled with a general uncertainty in part due to the political and economic situation in Brazil. During this period the exchange rate reached its historical peak on October 11, 2002 of Ps.756.56/US$. As a result, in late 2002 the Chilean Central Bank announced an exchange intervention to stabilize the currency.
The period 2003-2006 experienced a change in trend due to the appreciation of the peso, which was largely due to favorable financial conditions in emerging economies, a rebound in copper prices and a sharp depreciation in the dollar in international markets.
During 2007, the peso appreciated considerably against the U.S. dollar, trading, in December 2007 at an average exchange rate of Ps.499.28/US$, in comparison with an average exchange rate of Ps.527.6/US$ in December 2006. The peso had not reached this level of appreciation since May 1999.
Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2007 and until April 2008, the peso appreciated in both nominal and real terms. This appreciation, common to most emerging economies, was driven by both the weakening of the U.S. dollar globally and large global imbalances.
Taking into consideration the potential adverse effects on Chile’s financial stability that could have resulted from the worsening global economic conditions, on April 10, 2008 the Chilean Central Bank Council decided to intervene in the foreign exchange market during 2008 and announced an international reserves accumulation program of US$8 billion, to be implemented between April and December 2008. Announcing the intervention was consistent with the transparency principles that governs the Chilean Central Bank’s policymaking and with the floating exchange rate and inflation targeting schemes currently in force. The accumulation of reserves also modified the Chilean Central Bank’s foreign currency position, consistent with the assessment that, at the time of the intervention, the real exchange rate was below the level that would prevail in normal global real and financial conditions.
At the end of September 2008, the peso traded at Ps.552/US$ and the Chilean Central Bank Council announced the end of its reserve accumulation program, which had added US$5.75 billion in reserves, representing an increase of 30.0% compared to March 2008. In line with the value of U.S. dollars in relation to other currencies, after September 2008 the peso continued to depreciate, dropping to approximately Ps.629/US$ at the end of 2008.
During 2009, the peso appreciated against the U.S. dollar, particularly during the fourth quarter, reaching Ps.506.4/US$ by the end of the year. This was mainly the result of the depreciation of the U.S. dollar in international markets. The Chilean peso may also have been affected by the inflow of dollars related to the government’s withdrawals from the Economic and Stabilization Fund (FEES) to help finance the 2009 Fiscal Plan. See “The Economy—Global Financial Crisis—Economic Performance and Policies of 2008 and 2009.” In line with the currencies of many emerging economies, the peso appreciated against the U.S. dollar during 2010. In 2011 the Ps./US$ exchange rate experienced more volatility echoing the external situation. After appreciating to nearly Ps.455.9/US$ by the end of July, the peso depreciated to close the year at Ps.521.5/US$, mainly as a result of the dollar appreciation in the international markets, greater risk aversion by global investors, the drop in copper prices, as well as the international reserves accumulation program, which added US$12 billion to the Chilean Treasury in 2011. See “—International Reserves.” The behavior of the Ps./US$ exchange rate during the first semester of 2012 reflected volatility attributable to the uncertainties for the European economy as a result of the global financial crisis and the fluctuations of copper prices. After appreciating in the earlier part of 2012, the peso depreciated against the U.S. dollar to Ps.509.7/US$ in June, and again appreciated in the second half of 2012, reaching Ps.478.6/US$ in December 2012.
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During the first nine months of 2013 the exchange rate fluctuated, mainly due to changes in the dollar’s global valuation and the increased volatility of international financial markets. In December 2013, the Chilean peso traded at a rate of 523.8/US$, reflecting in part the lower interest rate differential between external and domestic rates brought about by the Chilean Central Bank’s decision to lower the Monetary Policy Rate (TPM) by 50 basis points in the last quarter of 2013. The appreciation of the dollar continued during 2014 and 2015, with the Chilean peso trading at Ps.707.3 /US$ 1.00 on December 31, 2015.
The strong depreciation of the peso against the U.S. dollar observed since May 2013 stems from the appreciation of the dollar internationally, however the timing of depreciation has differed in Chile vis-à-vis other emerging economies due to key factors, such as rapid adjustment of domestic spending and Chile’s implementation of an earlier, deeper expansionary cycle resulting in a year on year change of 16.0% of the dollar against the peso.
The following table shows the fluctuations in the nominal exchange rate since 2000.
Observed Exchange Rates(1)
(pesos per US$)
| High | Low | Average(2) | Period-End | |||||||||||||||
| 2001 | 716.6 | 557.1 | 634.9 | 656.2 | ||||||||||||||
| 2002 | 756.6 | 641.8 | 688.9 | 712.4 | ||||||||||||||
| 2003 | 758.2 | 593.1 | 691.4 | 559.4 | ||||||||||||||
| 2004 | 649.5 | 559.2 | 609.5 | 559.8 | ||||||||||||||
| 2005 | 592.8 | 509.7 | 559.8 | 514.2 | ||||||||||||||
| 2006 | 549.6 | 511.4 | 530.3 | 534.4 | ||||||||||||||
| 2007 | 548.7 | 493.1 | 522.5 | 495.8 | ||||||||||||||
| 2008 | 676.8 | 431.2 | 522.5 | 629.1 | ||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 643.9 | 491.1 | 559.6 | 506.4 | ||||||||||||||
| 2010 | 549.2 | 468.4 | 510.4 | 468.4 | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 533.7 | 455.9 | 483.4 | 521.5 | ||||||||||||||
| 2012 | 519.7 | 469.7 | 486.8 | 478.6 | ||||||||||||||
| 2013 | 534.0 | 466.5 | 495.0 | 523.8 | ||||||||||||||
| 2014 | 621.4 | 524.6 | 570.4 | 607.4 | ||||||||||||||
| 2015 | 715.7 | 597.1 | 654.2 | 707.3 | ||||||||||||||
| Three Months Ended March 31, 2016 | 730.3 | 672.0 | 702.7 | 675.1 | ||||||||||||||
| (1) | The table presents the annual high, low, average and period-end observed rates for each year. |
| (2) | Represents the average of average monthly rates for the periods indicated. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
International Reserves
The Chilean Central Bank manages its international reserves according to the free-floating exchange rate regime, which resulted in relatively stable net international reserves between 2004 and 2007. In 2008, however, net international reserves grew by 36.9% through the international reserves accumulation program undertaken by the Chilean Central Bank to preserve Chilean financial stability against the potential adverse effects of the then global economic conditions. International reserves amounted to approximately US$27.9 billion in 2010.
In 2011, the Chilean Central Bank increased reserves to strengthen its international liquidity position, by engaging in periodic purchases of foreign currency, thus increasing the international reserve level by US$14.1 billion at the end of 2011, to US$42.0 billion. Since then, international reserves have remained relatively stable, and stood at approximately US$39.6 billion as of March 31, 2016.
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The following table shows the composition of net international reserves of the Chilean Central Bank for the years indicated:
Net International Reserves of the Chilean Central Bank
(in millions of US$)
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Chilean Central Bank: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Assets: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Gold | US$ | 12 | US$ | 13 | US$ | 10 | US$ | 9 | US$ | 8 | ||||||||||
| SDRs | 1,214 | 1,212 | 1,147 | 1,079 | 1,058 | |||||||||||||||
| Reserve position in the IMF | 601 | 692 | 641 | 490 | 363 | |||||||||||||||
| Foreign exchange and bank deposits | 8,510 | 4,585 | 4,521 | 5,799 | 5,576 | |||||||||||||||
| Securities | 31,607 | 35,067 | 34,643 | 32,950 | 31,597 | |||||||||||||||
| Other assets | 35 | 81 | 132 | 119 | 39 | |||||||||||||||
| Total | US$ | 41,979 | US$ | 41,650 | US$ | 41,094 | US$ | 40,447 | US$ | 38,643 | ||||||||||
| Liabilities: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reciprocal Credit Agreements | US$ | 14 | US$ | 28 | US$ | 9 | US$ | 14 | US$ | - | ||||||||||
| Accounts with international organizations | 97 | 88 | 89 | 83 | 82 | |||||||||||||||
| SDR allocations | 1,254 | 1,256 | 1,258 | 1,183 | 1,133 | |||||||||||||||
| Total | US$ | 1,365 | US$ | 1,372 | US$ | 1,356 | US$ | 1,279 | US$ | 1,215 | ||||||||||
| Total international reserves, net | US$ | 40,614 | US$ | 40,278 | US$ | 39,738 | US$ | 39,168 | US$ | 37,428 | ||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
Money Supply
The evolution of Chile’s monetary base reflects the private sector demand for monetary balances, which depend on economic growth, the alternative cost of money and inflation. Although the Chilean Central Bank does not seek to implement monetary supply controls, these variables are under continuous monitoring to protect the economy against the effects of external shocks.
The following tables set forth the monthly average monetary base and the average monetary aggregates as of the dates indicated:
Monetary Base(1)
(in billions of pesos)
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Currency in circulation | Ps.3,646.9 | Ps.4,199.1 | Ps.4,693.2 | Ps.5,160.6 | Ps.5,679.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Bank reserves | 3,072.7 | 3,460.5 | 3,603.6 | 3,554.6 | 4,022.7 | |||||||||||||||
| Monetary base | Ps.6,719.6 | Ps.7,659.5 | Ps.8,296.8 | Ps.8,715.2 | Ps.9,701.9 | |||||||||||||||
| (1) | There are no demand deposits at the Chilean Central Bank. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
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Monetary Aggregates
(in billions of pesos)
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Currency in circulation | Ps.3,646.9 | Ps.4,199.1 | Ps.4,693.2 | Ps.5,160.6 | Ps.5,679,3 | |||||||||||||||
| Demand deposits at commercial banks | 14,362.2 | 15,399.3 | 17,418.7 | 20,330.2 | 22,530.8 | |||||||||||||||
| M1(1) | Ps.18,009.1 | Ps.19,598.4 | Ps.22,111.9 | Ps.25,490.8 | Ps.28,210.0 | |||||||||||||||
| Total time and savings deposits at banks | Ps.48,155.1 | Ps.51,821.0 | Ps.59,555.0 | Ps.63,623.3 | Ps.67,961.0 | |||||||||||||||
| Others | 779.8 | 596.9 | 1,065.7 | 1,351.6 | 1,132.4 | |||||||||||||||
| M2(2) | Ps.66,944.0 | Ps.72,016.3 | Ps.82,732.6 | Ps.90,465.6 | Ps.99,303.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency deposits at Chilean Central Bank | Ps.7,085.4 | Ps.8,068.6 | Ps.9,628.8 | Ps.12,683.9 | Ps.14,524.2 | |||||||||||||||
| Documents of Chilean Central Bank | 8,929.3 | 9,420.5 | 10,362.4 | 9,485.0 | 9,013.2 | |||||||||||||||
| Letters of Credit | 2,093.8 | 1,490.7 | 993.8 | 1,136.3 | 834.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Private Bonds | 16,073.8 | 16,611.0 | 17,974.3 | 18,594.2 | 18,754.9 | |||||||||||||||
| Others | 13,871.9 | 14,564.8 | 17,451.9 | 22,239.2 | 29,995.9 | |||||||||||||||
| M3(3) | Ps.114,998.2 | Ps.122,171.9 | Ps.139,143.7 | Ps.154,604.2 | Ps.172,425.9 | |||||||||||||||
| (1) | M1: Currency in circulation plus checking accounts net of float, demand deposits at commercial banks other than the former and other than demand savings deposits. |
| (2) | M2: M1 plus time deposits, time savings deposits, shares of mutual funds invested in up to one-year term debt instruments and collections by saving and credit cooperatives (excluding time deposit of the mutual funds previously mentioned and of saving and credit cooperatives). |
| (3) | M3: M2 plus deposits in foreign currency, documents issued by the Chilean Central Bank, Chilean treasury bonds, letters of credit, commercial papers, corporate bonds, shares of the other mutual funds and shares of pension funds in voluntary savings (excluding mutual funds’ and pension funds’ investments in M3 securities). |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
The following table shows selected monetary indicators for the periods indicated:
Selected Monetary Indicators
(in %)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| M1 (% change | 11.8 | 8.8 | 12.8 | 15.3 | 10.7 | |||||||||||||||
| M2 (% change) | 18.5 | 7.6 | 14.9 | 9.3 | 9.8 | |||||||||||||||
| Credit from the financial system | 13.4 | 12.9 | 9.7 | 9.6 | 10.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Average annual peso deposit rate(1) | 2.4 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 1.1 | |||||||||||||||
| (1) | Represents real interest rates for a period of 90 to 365 days. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
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The following table shows liquidity and credit aggregates as of the dates indicated:
Liquidity and Credit Aggregates
(in billions of pesos)
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Liquidity aggregates (at period end) | Ps.6,720 | Ps.7,660 | Ps.8,297 | Ps.8,715 | Ps.9,702 | |||||||||||||||
| Monetary base: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Currency, excluding cash in vaults at banks | 3,647 | 4,199 | 4,693 | 5,161 | 5,679 | |||||||||||||||
| M1(1) | 18,009 | 19,598 | 22,112 | 25,491 | 28,210 | |||||||||||||||
| M2(2) | 66,944 | 72,016 | 82,733 | 90,466 | 99,303 | |||||||||||||||
| M3(3) | 114,998 | 122,172 | 139,144 | 154,604 | 172,426 | |||||||||||||||
| Credit aggregates (at period end): | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Private sector credit | Ps.87,081 | Ps.97,419 | Ps.107,195 | Ps.118,176 | Ps.130,870 | |||||||||||||||
| Public sector credit | (1,566 | ) | (349 | ) | 1.183 | (212 | ) | (657 | ) | |||||||||||
| Total domestic credit(4) | Ps.72,888 | Ps.79,803 | Ps.86,751 | Ps.93,072 | Ps.102,942 | |||||||||||||||
| Deposits: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Chilean peso deposits | Ps.79,906 | Ps.87,900 | Ps.95,077 | Ps.103,013 | Ps.115,477 | |||||||||||||||
| Foreign-currency deposits | 11,020 | 12,214 | 15,161 | 20,184 | 20,567 | |||||||||||||||
| Total deposits | Ps.90,926 | Ps.100,114 | Ps.110,238 | Ps.123,197 | Ps.136,045 | |||||||||||||||
| (1) | Currency in circulation plus peso-denominated demand deposits. |
| (2) | M1 plus peso-denominated savings deposits. |
| (3) | M2 plus deposits in foreign currency, principally U.S. dollars. Does not include government time deposits at Chilean Central Bank. |
| (4) | Includes capital reserves and other net assets and liabilities. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
Financial Sector
General Overview of Banking System
The modern Chilean banking system dates from 1925 and has been characterized by periods of substantial regulation and state intervention followed by periods of deregulation. In the early 1970s, the banking sector was controlled by the state and highly regulated. In 1974, a process of interest rate liberalization, removal of credit controls and banking privatization began. However, after the financial crisis that affected Chile during 1982 and 1983, the Chilean Central Bank and the Superintendency of Banks and Financial Institutions (Superintendencia de Bancos e Instituciones Financieras, or SBIF) established strict controls on the funding, lending and general business matters of the banking with industry in Chile. In 1986, a new general banking act, the General Banking Act, was introduced, which had as its main objectives to improve banking system supervision and regulation. The General Banking Act was rewritten in 1997, beginning a new era of liberalization. Among other matters, this amendment allowed the entry of new entities into the system (SBIF granted permits to seven new banks) and the internationalization of banks. In addition, under this new legislation, the SBIF adopted international monitoring standards, incorporating the First Basel Committee’s 1998 Capital Accord and, recently, Basel II.
According to the General Banking Act, banks are special stock corporations engaged in the business of receiving money or funds from the general public, in order to use them to grant loans, discount documents, make investments and financial intermediation, and generally perform any other operation permitted by law. Nevertheless, banks may conduct only those activities allowed by the General Banking Act. Furthermore, the General Banking Act limits the amount invested in certain activities. Directly or through subsidiaries, banks may also engage in certain specified additional activities, such as securities brokerage services; mutual funds, investment funds or foreign capital funds management; factoring; securitization; financial leases and insurance brokerage services. Subject to certain limitations and with the prior approval of the SBIF and the Chilean Central Bank, Chilean banks may own majority or minority interests in foreign banks. In addition, banks may operate as placement agents and underwriters of initial public offerings of shares and of cross-market products of their subsidiaries. Banks are authorized to operate in derivatives transactions, including forwards, futures, swaps and, since 2007, options.
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Currently, commercial banks in Chile face growing competition from several sources, which has led to consolidation in the banking industry. Competition in the extension of credit has come increasingly from department stores, through the issue and management of credit cards, and foreign banks. In addition, two of Chile’s largest department stores have, through related entities, obtained licenses and begun to engage in commercial banking activities, while a third has acquired an existing bank. While these events have increased competition in consumer credit, it is not likely to be a continuing trend in the coming years.
As of December 31, 2015, there were 23 privately owned domestic banks and one state-owned bank (Banco Estado) operating in Chile. Corpbanca and Itaú Bank are in the process of implementing a merger that would result in a new entity accounting for approximately 15% of the Chilean banking market (measured by loans). In addition, there are five branches of foreign banks authorized to operate in Chile. As of December 31, 2015, the Chilean banking system had a total amount of outstanding loans equal to US$201.6 billion. Under the third capital markets reform, provided by Law No. 20,448, agencies of foreign banks would be allowed to market the loan products they offer abroad. See “Capital Markets—Capital Markets Reforms.”
Two of the largest Chilean banks, Banco Santander-Chile, or Santander-Chile, and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Chile, or BBVA-Chile, are subsidiaries of Spanish banks, Banco Santander and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A., respectively. Despite such banks having a combined 22% market share of the Chilean banking market (measured by loans) as of December 31, 2015, the government does not believe the Chilean financial sector or economy in general is materially exposed to adverse risks created by the European sovereign debt crisis or the difficulties affecting the Spanish economy. Notwithstanding their foreign ownership, Santander-Chile and BBVA-Chile are licensed as Chilean banks and are subject to generally applicable Chilean banking laws and regulations, including, among other things, Chilean minimum capital and reserve requirements (encaje), which help to insulate the Chilean operations of these banks from foreign financial crises, and restrictions on capital reductions, which help to ensure that transfers of capital to the Spanish parent companies of these banks in excess of Chilean requirements are subject to the SBIF’s prior approval. See “—Banking Regulation.”
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The following table provides certain statistical information on the financial system:
Chilean Financial System
(in millions of U.S. dollars except for percentages)
| As of December 31, 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assets | Loans | Deposits | Shareholders’ Equity(1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Amount | Market Share | Amount | Market Share | Amount | Market Share | Amount | Market Share | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestically owned private-sector banks | US$ 241,670 | 83.6 | % | US$ 174,381 | 86.5 | % | US$ 137,876 | 81.2 | % | US$ 18,742 | 88.0 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Foreign-owned private-sector banks(2) | 1,229 | 0.4 | 131 | 0.1 | 261 | 0.2 | 442 | 2.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Private-sector total | 242,899 | 84.0 | 174,513 | 86.6 | 138,137 | 81.4 | 19,184 | 90.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Banco Estado | 46,220 | 16.0 | 27,081 | 13.4 | 31,646 | 18.6 | 2,112 | 9.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total banks | US$ 289,118 | 100.0 | % | US$ 201,594 | 100.0 | % | US$ 169,783 | 100.0 | % | US$ 21,296 | 100.0 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| (1) | Corresponds to the “Capital Básico.” This item included capital and reserves. |
| (2) | Foreign-owned subsidiaries of foreign banks are classified as domestically owned private-sector banks. If they were classified as foreign-owned private-sector banks, the market share of foreign-owned private-sector banks would be as follows: assets: 35%, loans: 36%, deposits: 31%, shareholders’ equity: 38%, with the corresponding reduction in the market share of domestically owned private-sector banks. |
Source: SBIF.
The following table sets forth the total assets of the four largest Chilean private-sector banks, state-owned Banco Estado and other banks in the aggregate:
| As of December 31, 2015 | ||||||||
| In billions of Pesos | Market Share | |||||||
| Banco Santander-Chile | Ps.34,654,105 | 17.0 | % | |||||
| Banco Estado | 32,549,582 | 16.0 | ||||||
| Banco de Chile | 31,292,944 | 15.4 | ||||||
| Banco de Crédito e Inversiones | 28,772,766 | 14.1 | ||||||
| Corpbanca | 20,896,631 | 10.3 | ||||||
| Other banks | 55,442,186 | 27.2 | ||||||
| Total Banking System | Ps.203,608,214 | 100.0 | % | |||||
Source: SBIF.
The following table sets forth information on bank operation efficiency indicators for the periods indicated:
Indicators of Financial System Efficiency
(%)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Return on assets | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Return on equity | 17.4 | 14.6 | 14.8 | 17.2 | 14.2 | |||||||||||||||
| Non-performing loans as a percentage of total loans | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.9 | |||||||||||||||
| Gross operational margin/assets | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses/operating revenue | 47.6 | 47.4 | 46.3 | 45.3 | 47.4 | |||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses/average total assets | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.1 | |||||||||||||||
| Regulatory capital to risk-weighted assets | 13.9 | 13.3 | 13.3 | 13.4 | 12.6 | |||||||||||||||
Source: SBIF.
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Banking Regulation
The SBIF is the main banking sector regulator. In addition, the Chilean Central Bank oversees exchange rate policy and regulates international capital movements and certain bank operations.
The SBIF monitors and oversees Chile’s banks (excluding the Chilean Central Bank), as well as a subset of the cooperatives that hold savings deposits and provide credit (the larger cooperatives in terms of capital) and mutual guarantees, and companies whose corporate purpose includes the issuance or operation of credit cards or any other similar credit system (mainly supermarkets and department store chains). Additionally, the SBIF authorizes the incorporation and licensing of new banks and has broad powers to issue, interpret and enforce banking regulations (both legal and regulatory). The SBIF must also approve any bank merger, bylaw amendment, capital increase and any acquisition of 10.0% or more of the equity interests in a bank. In case of non-compliance, the SBIF has the authority to impose a range of remedial actions.
The SBIF has signed several Memoranda of Understanding providing for mutual cooperation and the exchange of information in recent years, including with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions of Canada (2010), with the China Banking Regulatory Commission (2011), with the Financial Superintendency of Colombia (2012), and with the Superintendency of Banks of Panama (2013).
Moreover, since June 2007 the SBIF, the SVS and the SP has been permitted, by the Data Protection Law, to share information with each other, except data protected by bank privacy laws.
As part of its supervisory role, the SBIF examines banks at least once a year. Banks are required to submit their financial statements to the SBIF monthly and to publish them at least four times a year in a newspaper with national coverage. Banks must also submit to the SBIF their annual financial statements and the opinions of their independent auditors and are required to be rated by two independent rating agencies. Finally, banks are also subject to periodic reporting obligations to the SBIF with respect to a wide range of operational and transactional data.
Since January 2010, all banks have been required to include in the calculation of expected losses and provisioning a percentage of off-balance sheet contingent loans, including, among others, undrawn lines of credit, unused credit card lines and stand-by letters of credit. Since January 2011, banks have also been required to transition their systems to use models developed by the SBIF (instead of internally developed models) to determine the probability of default.
In September 2010, the SBIF issued regulations to protect bank customers by instituting a stricter standard for delivery instructions, and forbidding unilateral amendments to contracts or suspension of accounts and regulated products tied to mortgage agreements, such as insurance. In addition, since October 24, 2011, a “universal lending agreement” (contratos de crédito universal) relating to mortgages, credit cards and consumer loans, became operative as part of the Third Capital Markets reform bill. See “—Capital Markets—Third Capital Markets Reform.”
Deposit Insurance
The General Banking Act (GBA) provides for a government guarantee of up to 90.0% of the aggregate amount of certain time deposits, savings accounts and non-bearer securities issued by banks held by individuals. This guarantee is limited to UF 108 (US$3,913 as of December 31, 2015) per person (for the system as a whole) for each calendar year. In the event a bank is required to submit a restructuring plan to its creditors (pursuant to section 122 of the GBA) or is forced to liquidate, the Chilean Central Bank provides liquidity up to 100.0% of the amount of deposits in current accounts and other sight deposits and other sight obligations of the failed institution. Such liquidity is subject to a request from the failed institution, as well as a favorable report from the Superintendency of Banks and Financial Institutions (SBIF) regarding the verification of the submission of the restructuring plan proposed to the failed institution’s creditors. Liquidity is only provided to the extent that available funds in the failed institution are insufficient to pay covered sight obligations.
Sight deposits and time deposits are subject to a monthly reserve requirement determined by the Chilean Central Bank. As of December 31, 2015, this requirement amounted to 9% for sight deposits and 3.6% for time deposits (with maturity from one day to one year). In 2003, due to the free trade agreement executed with the United States, foreign currency reserve requirements were made equivalent to local currency reserve requirements. In order to implement monetary policy, the Chilean Central Bank has statutory authority to increase these percentages to a maximum of 40.0% for sight deposits and a maximum of 20.0% for other deposits and obligations.
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In addition, a 100.0% technical reserve requirement applies to sight deposits and obligations exceeding the regulatory capital of the bank by 2.5 times.
Minimum Capital; Capital Adequacy Requirements
The GBA provides that banks must meet a minimum paid-in capital and reserves requirement equal to UF 800,000 (approximately US$29 million as of December 31, 2015).
A minimum of 50.0% of the minimum capital shall be duly paid at the moment a bank is incorporated (or at the moment of receiving authorization to start operations, in the case of a branch of a foreign bank). There is no legal term to pay the remaining capital. However, until the bank reaches the required minimum capital, its regulatory capital must be no less than 12.0% of its risk weighted assets. This requirement decreases to 10.0% of risk weighted assets after the bank’s regulatory capital reaches at least UF 600,000 (approximately US$21.7 million as of December 31, 2015).
The GBA also provides that paid-in capital and reserves of a bank, net of investments in subsidiaries (the “net capital base”), cannot be less than 3.0% of total assets, net of mandatory provisions, while its regulatory capital, cannot be less than 8.0% of its risk-weighted assets after the bank reaches the minimum required paid-in capital. As of December 31, 2015, all Chilean banks met or exceeded Chile’s legal capital adequacy guidelines.
The amendment to the GBA of 1997 implemented a modified version of the capital adequacy guidelines issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 1988 (“Basel I”). The principal change that Chile made to the “Capital Adequacy Guidelines” was to assign a relatively greater risk-weight to mortgage loans (60.0% rather than 50.0%).
In 2005, the SBIF published a roadmap identifying the steps required to transition to the International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards released by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 2004 (“Basel II”). This roadmap included a proposal to increase minimum regulatory capital to 10.0% of risk weighted assets.
In March 2006, the money laundering and financing of terrorism rules were replaced, in accordance with the “Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision” and “Knowledge of Banks Customers” guidelines of the Basel Committee, and the relevant provisions of Law No. 19,913, which created the Financial Analysis Unit.
In January 2015, Law No. 20,818 was enacted, amending Law No. 19,913, expanding the number of criminal offenses considered underlying crimes constituting money laundering and the financing of terrorism and granting additional powers to the UAF. See “Republic of Chile—Measures Implemented to Deter Terrorism and Money Laundering.”
In November 2007, the SBIF, together with other Chilean superintendencies and regulatory bodies, required public companies in Chile to adopt over time the International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, as adopted by the International Accounting Standards Boards, or IASB, in order to conform to international financial reporting standards. Pursuant to the SBIF Compendium of Accounting Standards (Compendio de Normas Contables, or the “Compendium”), effective January 1, 2009, Chilean banks were required to adopt new accounting standards, which are more consistent with international accounting standards. For all matters not described in the Compendium, which are not contrary to the instructions of the SBIF, banks are required to apply the technical standards, or the Technical Standards, adopted by the Chilean Accounting Association (Colegio de Contadores de Chile A.G.), which are in turn generally consistent with the international accounting and financial information standards adopted by the IASB. If there are inconsistencies between the Technical Standards and the Compendium, the latter prevails.
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The International Regulatory Framework for Banks released by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision between 2011 and 2013 (“Basel III”) has not yet been formally implemented by Chile, but the Ministry of Finance has announced that a bill will be submitted to Congress during 2016 to introduce necessary amendments to the GBA. See “Recent Developments in Banking Regulation—Capital Adequacy Requirements.”
Recent Developments in Banking Regulation
Capital Adequacy Requirements, Institutional Aspects of the SBIF and Bank Resolution
The Ministry of Finance, in consultation with the SBIF, the Chilean Central Bank and other relevant stakeholders, is currently working on a draft bill of law to introduce amendments to the GBA along three main pillars: strengthening capital requirements, improving institutional aspects and upgrading the bank dissolution framework. The first pillar encompasses the key elements included in Basel II and Basel III. With regards to the second pillar, the project aims to enhance the corporate governance of the SBIF, by introducing higher standards for appointment and removal of the Superintendent, among other modifications. The third pillar seeks to expand the toolkit available for bank dissolutions, while enhancing early intervention measures.
After these drafts have been reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Finance, they would have to be submitted to Congress.
Although the Chilean banking system had a capital ratio of 12.62% as of December 31, 2015 (as measured by the SBIF under the definitions of the GBA), the adoption of the Basel II and Basel III capital framework may require certain banks to inject additional capital.
Universal Credits
Banks, insurance companies, retailers and other financial institutions are now required to inform their customers of the all-in costs of the financial services they provide on standardized terms, providing customers with a useful basis on which to compare the cost of financial products and services.
Consumer Protection
In December 2011, the Consumer Protection Act was amended to include provisions applicable to financial services and products. According to this amendment, bank agreements with consumers for financial services or products must, among other requirements: (1) provide a detailed breakdown of all the charges, fees, costs and tariffs that form part of the price, including those which are indirectly part of the price, or that are associated with other products simultaneously contracted; (2) expressly provide the terms related to early termination of the agreement by the bank, a reasonable cure period and the method by which a consumer will receive notice of such early termination; and (3) allow for early termination of the agreement in the sole and absolute discretion of the customer, provided that the customer has paid all obligations in full, including any cost for the early termination.
In addition, consumers are entitled to: (1) receive information about the total cost of the product or service; (2) receive an explanation in the case of the rejection of their credit application; and (3) know the objective requirements to access a particular financial product. No assessment has yet been made as to the impact on the Consumer Protection Act or the financial market.
In February 2012, Law No. 20,575 introduced the “principle of purpose” to the use of commercial and financial personal data. As a result, Chilean banks and other financial institutions can only use client financial and commercial personal data for the purposes of commercial risk assessment and in connection with the process of granting credits.
Bankruptcy Law
On January 9, 2014, the Chilean government published new bankruptcy legislation, Law No. 20,720, which provides for an improved legal and regulatory framework for the reorganization and liquidation of companies and the restructuring of company and consumer debts. The law reinforces the role of the Former Superintendency of Bankruptcy (Superintendencia de Quiebras) which has been renamed the Superintendency of Insolvency and Debtor Rehabilitation (Superintendencia de Insolvencia y Reemprendimiento) and assigns it new responsibilities.
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The new regulations are intended to facilitate proactive credit risk management and limit losses that arise from delays in the recognition and resolution of impaired loans, thereby leading to better asset quality and recoveries. Other benefits include greater protection for secured creditors and clear guidelines on the ranking of related-party claims in insolvency proceedings. A more efficient, structured process is also expected to be less costly in terms of management time and administrative and legal costs. This legislation does not apply to banks, which in the case of liquidation, remain subject to the GBA.
Capital Markets
General
Over the last 30 years, the Chilean capital markets have grown in liquidity, market capitalization and through the emergence of new instruments and counterparties, such as institutional investors. The regulatory environment of the capital markets in Chile is comprehensive and sophisticated. It requires the delivery of detailed information by certain market participants, allows for a broad array of investment options, and includes a detailed set of regulations for the use of derivatives, futures, options, forwards and swaps in limiting foreign investment risks associated with variations in interest and exchange rates.
Capital Markets Reforms
Laws and regulations on capital markets are subject to continuous adjustments in order to be updated to market needs and international standards. During the last decade, three major legal reforms have been passed seeking to modernize the capital markets: the First Capital Market Reform, the Second Capital Market Reform and the Third Capital Market Reform.
In 2000, the First Capital Market Reform, a major reform of the corporate and securities laws, became effective, providing comprehensive regulation of tender offers and corporate governance. This legislation set forth new rules regarding the necessary information that needs to be given to the public and, in general, aims to protect the interests of minority shareholders. It also included important amendments to the Corporations Act regarding corporate governance, related party transactions, voting rights for mutual funds, the elimination of restrictions on control rights for preferred shares and the creation of audit committees.
For tender offers, this legislation provides that majority shareholders of publicly traded corporations must share with minority or outside shareholders the benefits of a change of control, by requiring that relevant share acquisitions be made pursuant to strictly regulated tender offer procedures. However, controlling shareholders may freely sell their shares in some circumstances, as when the sale price of their shares is not substantially above market price, that is, no more than 10.0% to 15.0% above market price (currently 10.0%, as set by the SVS).
As of 2001, foreign portfolio investors, including mutual funds and pension funds, are exempt from capital gains tax on the sale of highly traded equity and bonds made on authorized stock exchanges.
Based on other changes to tax regulations in 2001, foreign investors in Chile do not need to obtain a Chilean taxpayer identification number (a Rol Único Tributario, or RUT) to appoint and register a legal representative in Chile, and to use accounting practices authorized by the Chilean tax authorities.
In addition, in 2001, the Chilean government approved a series of measures aimed at increasing liquidity in the capital markets, promoting savings and facilitating the financing of new investment projects through both tax incentives and institutional and regulatory reforms.
Accordingly, the 15.0% capital gains tax for highly traded equity was eliminated as well as the tax for short-sale of equity and bonds. The withholding tax on interest paid to non-resident entities for Chilean currency-denominated bank deposits in Chile and local currency-denominated bonds was reduced from 35.0% to 4.0% and the tax on cross-border banking intermediation was eliminated. The categories of “general fund manager” and “qualified investor” were introduced into the regulatory scheme. Additionally, a system of voluntary pre-tax contributions to individual pension funds (of amounts up to UF 50, or approximately US$1,812 per year as of December 31, 2015) was established; a new stock exchange segment was organized for emerging companies with significant growth potential; and the insurance and mutual fund industries were deregulated.
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The Second Capital Markets Reform was enacted in 2007 with the primary objectives of promoting access to funding, strengthening the stock exchange market, increasing the reliability of the capital markets and developing the venture capital industry. One of the key elements in the Second Capital Markets Reform was the introduction of various incentives to accomplish its primary objectives, which were crafted based on the Basel II standards.
The Third Capital Markets Reform of 2009 included measures to (i) improve the liquidity and depth of mutual funds, investment funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), (ii) increase access to the financial markets (for example, the reform permitted shelf registration for securitized bonds), and (iii) stimulate international financial integration. The Third Capital Markets Reform also extended the types of securities on which foreign investors are able to claim capital gains tax exemptions. This reform also sought to improve competition in the financial market through mechanisms designed to facilitate the ability of financial consumers to understand and compare credit products by establishing standardized “universal lending” agreements (contratos de crédito universal) on mortgages, credit cards and consumer loans.
On July 3, 2013, in furtherance of recommendations made by the IMF, the OECD and national experts, the government submitted a draft bill to Congress providing for the creation of the Stock and Exchange Commission (Comisión de Valores y Seguros) and the adoption of certain initiatives related to corporate governance and regulatory processes. The bill aims at strengthening the securities’ market oversight and fostering the independence and transparency of the monitoring authority in addition to improving corporate governance regulation. As of the date of this report, the bill is under discussion.
The Bicentennial Capital Markets Agenda
In May 2010, the government announced a new capital markets reform entitled Bicentennial Capital Markets Agenda (Agenda del Mercado de Capitales Bicentenario), seeking to further enhance the international integration of Chile’s financial market, create a regulatory framework that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship, continue the adoption of the best international practices on competition, supervision and transparency, increase the depth and liquidity of the financial system and widen access to it.
Several laws included in this agenda were passed, including those covering financial system competition, the tax treatment of derivatives, the administration of funds and wealth management, a new bankruptcy statute and the creation of a Financial Stability Council (Consejo de Estabilidad Financiera). Some bills remain under discussion in Congress, such as the bills on risk-based supervision of insurance companies, the reform to the credit reporting system and the transformation of the SVS into a Commission.
Funds and Wealth Management Law
Law No. 20,712, the Funds and Wealth Management Law (Ley Única de Fondos), in force since May 2014, creates a single legal body for the management of third-party funds that unites, simplifies and improves upon previous legislation and incorporates regulation for the management of individual portfolios.
The new legal framework entails more flexibility in administrative and investment terms, enabling wealth management providers to offer a better service and a wider range of products, while seeking to protect investors. It also enhances the SVS’s regulatory and supervisory authority, including, for example, the power to examine individuals providing wealth management services to ensure they meet a minimum level of financial proficiency. The law also introduces amendments to the tax regime intended to avoid double taxation as well as the application of Chilean taxes (such as the VAT) to transactions that are not connected with Chile.
Financial Stability Council
Ministry of Finance Decree No. 953 of 2011 created a Financial Stability Council. This council is chaired by the Minister of Finance and also comprises the chairperson of the SVS, the SBIF and the SP. The President of the Chilean Central Bank attends as a permanent advisor. In October 2014, Congress enacted Law No. 20,789 which provides a legal framework to the Financial Stability Council, as well as introducing other amendments aimed at improving the coordination and exchange of relevant information among public regulators in the financial sector.
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The main purpose of the Financial Stability Council is to facilitate technical coordination and the exchange of information among its participants, in matters relating to the prevention and management of financial system risks, in order to maintain the financial stability of the Chilean economy. The council provides an institutional framework to enable a more comprehensive oversight of the financial market, to review and analyze relevant information and propose and coordinate regulatory improvements to promote financial stability. During periods of economic or financial distress, the Financial Stability Council is responsible for coordinating measures to mitigate the effects and propagation of these events. The Financial Stability Council must meet at least monthly, or more frequently if convened by the Ministry of Finance or any three of its members.
Law No. 20,789 also amended the organic laws of the three participating superintendencies to enable them to request information regarding other persons or firms within supervised financial conglomerates, as well as information needed to determine the property and control structure among them. In addition, solvency requirements for controlling shareholders of banks and insurance companies were tightened by the establishment of certain requisites, such as requiring consolidated net worth information for such shareholders and the implementation of certain sanctions for non-compliance.
Stock Exchanges
There are three stock exchanges operating in Chile: the Santiago Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Comercio de Santiago), on average accounting for almost 92.9% of equity trading during 2015, while the Chilean Electronic Stock Exchange (Bolsa Electrónica de Chile) and the Valparaíso Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Corredores de Valparaíso) together accounted for 7.1% of equity trading in Chile during the same period. Profits from trading shares of stock on these exchanges represent their main source of revenue. As of December 31, 2015, the Santiago Stock Exchange had 216 listed companies and total market capitalization of US$191 billion.
The table below summarizes recent value and performance indicators for the Santiago Stock Exchange:
Indicators for the Santiago Stock Exchange
| As of December 31, | Market Capitalization (in billions of US$) | Annual Trading Volume (in billions of US$) | IGPA(1) | IPSA(2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 269.2 | 52.3 | 20,129.80 | 4,177.53 | ||||||||||||||
| 2012 | 313.3 | 45.6 | 21,070.28 | 4,301.38 | ||||||||||||||
| 2013 | 266.0 | 45.8 | 18,227.05 | 3,699.19 | ||||||||||||||
| 2014 | 233.0 | 32.4 | 18,870.41 | 3,850.96 | ||||||||||||||
| 2015 | 191.0 | 20.7 | 18,151.50 | 3,680.21 | ||||||||||||||
| (1) | The General Stock Price Index (Indice General de Precios de Acciones, or IGPA) is an index weighted by market capitalization that measures the price variations of any stocks listed on the Santiago Stock Exchange with an annual trading volume of at least UF10,000 (US$362,330.6 as of December 31, 2015). |
| (2) | The Selective Stock Price Index (Indice de Precios Selectivo de Acciones, or IPSA) is an index tied to the stocks on the Santiago Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of at least US$200 million. |
Source: Santiago Stock Exchange.
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The following table sets forth a summary of consolidated trading volume on the Santiago, Electronic and Valparaíso Stock Exchanges:
Consolidated Trading Volume on the Santiago, Electronic and Valparaíso
Stock Exchanges (in billions of US$)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |||||||||||||
| Equity | 66.9 | 52.4 | 53.6 | 35.9 | ||||||||||||
| Fixed income securities | 238.1 | 173.2 | 206.2 | 210.8 | ||||||||||||
| Commercial paper | 469.8 | 509.0 | 563.5 | 464.4 | ||||||||||||
| Total | 760.9 | 734.6 | 823.3 | 711.0 | ||||||||||||
| Number of listed companies: | ||||||||||||||||
| Equity | 229 | 225 | 227 | 230 | ||||||||||||
| Bonds and other debt issuers | 160 | 166 | 161 | 164 | ||||||||||||
Source: SVS, based on information from the Santiago Stock Exchange, Electronic Stock Exchange and Valparaíso Stock Exchange.
Institutional Investors
The principal institutional investors active in Chile (listed by size of investment portfolio, in descending order) are the pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds, investment funds and foreign capital investment funds.
The following table sets forth the amount of assets of the various types of institutional investors in Chile for the following periods:
Total Assets of Institutional Investors (in billions of US$)
| As of December 31, | Pension Funds (AFPs) | Insurance Companies | Mutual Funds | Investment Funds(1) | Foreign Capital Investment Funds | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | 35.4 | 11.8 | 4.8 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 53.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | 35.8 | 12.3 | 6.3 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 56.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | 49.2 | 16.7 | 8.3 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 76.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | 60.5 | 19.9 | 11.8 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 95.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | 74.5 | 23.9 | 13.6 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 115.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | 88.3 | 25.2 | 17.7 | 4.0 | 0.4 | 135.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | 111.3 | 30.8 | 24.5 | 6.7 | 0.3 | 173.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | 74.3 | 27.8 | 17.9 | 4.4 | 0.2 | 124.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 118.1 | 35.8 | 34.3 | 6.4 | 0.4 | 195.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | 148.4 | 42.4 | 38.2 | 9.5 | 0.5 | 239.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 135.0 | 36.8 | 33.3 | 8.7 | 0.3 | 218.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | 162.0 | 43.7 | 37.9 | 10.2 | 0.4 | 254.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013 | 163.0 | 43.0 | 39.4 | 9.2 | 0.3 | 254.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | 165.4 | 41.4 | 44.1 | 9.0 | 0.4 | 260.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | 155.4 | 40.7 | 40.2 | 12.6 | 0.4 | 249.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| (1) | Includes international investment funds. |
Source: SVS, SP.
Pension Funds and the Chilean Pension System
Chile began a comprehensive reform of its social security system in the early 1980s through the adoption of the Private Pensions Funds Act that eliminated many of the problems associated with the former social security system. The Private Pensions Funds Act replaced the old social security system by a privately administered system of individual pension plans. Under the pension system previously in place, contributions from current workers had been used to fund the pension payments of current retirees, although there was a limited correlation between the amount contributed and the amount received by each worker upon retirement.
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The current pension system is based on individualized accounts with fully funded and portable benefits. Since its inception, through March 31, 2016, it has averaged real annual returns on the assets under management of 8.1%. In addition, as of December 31, 2015, the pension funds held aggregate financial assets equaling approximately US$155.4 billion.
The pension system creates individual savings accounts, where employees are mandated to save 10.0% of every month’s salary for retirement, which is deductible from their taxable income. In addition, employees are free to add additional voluntary savings into the system in what is known as the “Second Account.” These funds are managed by one of several private sector pension fund administrators (AFPs), who use long-term growth investment strategies. All AFPs are subject to regulatory review by the SP, the main regulator, and the Chilean Central Bank. In addition, AFPs that are listed on a stock exchange are regulated by the SVS.
New beneficiaries are assigned, for up to 24 months, to the AFP that offers the lowest administrative fee in a competitive tender process. After that period, employees may choose which AFP will manage their funds and may switch if they are dissatisfied with the performance of their investments. In 1984, the last year in which workers could elect not to participate in the new system, approximately 19.0% of the individuals who participated in the old system, principally older workers near retirement, elected to stay in the old system. Over the years, more workers have continued to be incorporated into the AFP system and as of December 31, 2015, there were a total of 10.0 million employees in the system, although only 5.6 million of these employees contributed to their individual savings account. As of December 31, 2014, there were only 48,669 non-retired individuals contributing to the traditional social security system.
Workers who participated in the traditional social security system and shifted to the new system received from the government an interest-earning past-service pension reform bond, known as the “Bono de Reconocimiento,” reflecting an estimate of the value of their previous contributions into the old system. This bond is indexed to the CPI, has a 4.0% real annual interest rate and is held by the AFP for the benefit of the worker. It is held separately from the amounts held in an individual’s savings account. This pension reform bond becomes payable into the individual’s savings account at the time the individual first becomes eligible for retirement, or upon the individual’s death or disability. Since 2004, the government has classified these obligations as “payments of non-financial liabilities.”
The following table sets forth the government’s cost estimate of Chile’s traditional social security program as a percentage of GDP (including the separate pension systems of the armed forces and police department) for the years indicated:
Expenditures of the Social Security System
(as a % of GDP)
Past-service pension reform bonds | Government expense for traditional pensions | Total | ||||||||||||
| 2000 | 0.74 | 4.35 | 5.08 | |||||||||||
| 2001 | 0.69 | 4.32 | 5.01 | |||||||||||
| 2002 | 0.65 | 4.24 | 4.89 | |||||||||||
| 2003 | 0.59 | 4.07 | 4.66 | |||||||||||
| 2004 | 0.50 | 3.63 | 4.14 | |||||||||||
| 2005 | 0.43 | 3.36 | 3.79 | |||||||||||
| 2006 | 0.35 | 3.03 | 3.38 | |||||||||||
| 2007 | 0.32 | 2.98 | 3.29 | |||||||||||
| 2008 | 0.27 | 3.25 | 3.52 | |||||||||||
| 2009 | 0.26 | 3.60 | 3.86 | |||||||||||
| 2010 | 0.22 | 3.32 | 3.54 | |||||||||||
| 2011 | 0.18 | 3.21 | 3.40 | |||||||||||
| 2012 | 0.15 | 3.18 | 3.33 | |||||||||||
| 2013 | 0.12 | 3.08 | 3.20 | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 0.10 | 2.99 | 3.09 | |||||||||||
| 2015 | 0.08 | 2.98 | 3.06 | |||||||||||
Source: Chilean Budget Office.
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Pension funds must meet a required minimum level of investment return, which is tied to the average performance of all funds in the pension system. In the event that the fund managed by an AFP fails to achieve this minimum return, the AFP is required to cover the difference. The Private Pensions Funds Act requires that each AFP maintain a capital reserve fund equal to one percent of the value of its pension funds. The purpose of this fund is to provide a reserve to be used in the event that the performance of an individual pension fund drops below a minimum level. If a deficit is not covered or if reserves are not replenished, the AFP will be liquidated by the SP and the government will guarantee the minimum level of investment return. The government will then transfer the accounts to another AFP. Historically, the required minimum return on fund investments has led to the various AFPs having similar pension fund portfolios.
The government also guarantees modest minimum old-age, life and disability pensions for individuals who have made contributions for a certain minimum number of years, regardless of the level of contributions actually made into the individual’s saving account at an AFP. In the case of bankruptcy of an AFP, the government guarantees certain limited liabilities of that pension fund. The government is liable for 100.0% of this obligation up to the amount of the legal minimum pension and for 75.0% of the pensions above the minimum and up to UF 45 per month (approximately US$1,630.5 as of December 31, 2015).
In 2002, a multi-fund plan for the AFPs was implemented. This system allows each affiliate to choose among five different funds (compared with two alternatives under the old model). Each of these funds has a different risk-return profile, determined by the percentage of its assets that can be invested in either variable or fixed income securities. Additionally, the multi-fund plan liberalizes certain investment limits applicable to pension funds.
Since 2002, tax incentives have been implemented to encourage voluntary savings in the pension system. These incentives allow workers to deduct from their taxable wage base certain voluntary contributions invested in mutual funds, investment funds and insurance plans authorized by the SVS, which are managed by different entities such as banks and life insurance companies, enlarging investment alternatives for affiliates.
Workers may withdraw some or all of their accumulated voluntary savings before retiring, in which case the net amount withdrawn is added to the income of the relevant tax cycle for the purpose of estimating income tax.
In 2008, an amendment to the Private Pension Funds Act was enacted to (i) increase competition in the AFP industry and decrease the system’s cost (mainly by assigning new beneficiaries, for up to 24 months, to the AFP that offers the lowest administrative fee in a competitive tender process — as of December 31, 2015, the lowest administration fee starts at 0.47%), (ii) assure greater pension fund profitability (by permitting AFP’s to invest in additional financial products in Chile and abroad), and (iii) foster voluntary saving (allowing employees to arrange supplementary savings agreements with their employers). This reform established, among other things, the following benefits:
| · | Basic Solidarity Pension: Its main purpose is to benefit those beneficiaries who have not accumulated a sufficient amount of funds for their retirement. As of the implementation of the reform, beneficiaries are entitled to a Basic Solidarity Pension in the amount of Ps.60,000 (approximately US$84.8 as of December 31, 2015), which was increased to Ps.75,000 (approximately US$106.0 as of December 31, 2015) following the one year anniversary of its effectiveness. For those beneficiaries with previously saved funds in their accounts, the reform contemplates a Solidarity Pension Contribution, allowing them to increase their retirement pension. The Solidarity Pension has been gradually expanded, and since 2012, it benefits all contributors who earn less than Ps.255,000 (approximately US$360.5 as of December 31, 2015). In 2015, 579,275 beneficiaries were entitled to Basic Solidarity Pensions on average each month. |
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To effect these reforms, the amendment to the Private Pension Funds Act created the Social Security Institute, which is charged with the implementation of the basic solidarity pensions, which is fully in force, among others matters.
| · | Benefits to Women: Women, who are among the poorest 60.0% of the population, receive a bond per new born child, equivalent to 1.8 times the minimum salary (Ps. 405,000, or approximately US$572.6 as of December 31, 2015), which bonds are deposited in their pension saving accounts one month following the beneficiary’s 65th birthday. |
| · | Benefits to Young Workers: Workers aged 18 to 35 with an income lower than 1.5 times the minimum salary (Ps. 337,500, or approximately US$477.1, as of December 31, 2015) receive a subsidy, equivalent to 10.0% of the minimum salary (approximately US$34.1 as of December 31, 2015), for their first 24 contributions. Half of this subsidy is capitalized in their individual pension accounts and the remainder is provided as an employment subsidy. |
| · | Benefits to Independent Workers: Persons working independently have access to the Solidarity Pension System and other benefits contained in the reform under the same conditions as those people employed pursuant to a labor contract, with similar duties and prerogatives. After a gradual phase-in beginning in January 2012, participation by independent workers became mandatory on January 1, 2015. |
In addition, the 2008 reform has (i) increased the competition in the AFP industry and decreased the costs of the system (mainly by mandating that new beneficiaries would be assigned, for up to 24 months, to the AFP that offers for the lowest commission in a competitive tender process), (ii) assured greater pension fund profitability (extending the limits of AFP investment in Chile and abroad), and (iii) fostered voluntary saving (allowing employees to arrange supplementary savings agreements with their employers, in order to save larger amounts).
President Bachelet created the Presidential Advisory Commission on the Pension System in April 2014 through Decree No. 718. This commission is comprised of 25 members, Chilean and foreign, and is mandated to prepare a report regarding the benefits, limitations, deficiencies and challenges of the current pension system in Chile with proposals on improvements to solve the system’s main deficiencies. For this purpose, the commission holds meetings with civil, labor and business representatives, as well as with pension fund representatives, insurance company representatives and national and international experts. It also conducts seminars, where international experts are convened to discuss comparative trends among international pension systems. The commission issued a report in September 2015 and the government is taking steps to improve the current system. The proposed measures aim at increasing the pension funds through higher contributions funded by employers and an increase of the retirement age. Part of the contributions funded by employers would be allocated to a fund for the poor segment of the population, although the allocation mechanism is currently under study.
Pension funds are the largest institutional investors in the Chilean market. The volume of resources flowing into pension funds has grown steadily over time. In 1981 (the first year the system operated), pension funds’ assets totaled US$305 million, while as of December 31, 2015, these assets totaled US$155.4 billion.
Insurance Companies and the Chilean Insurance System
The Insurance Companies Act of 1979 introduced a framework for the regulation of insurance companies. The basic principles included market determination of rates and commissions, equal access to foreign insurance companies, rules for commencing reserve funds and minimum capital and solvency criteria. Chilean law prescribes that life insurance companies can have liabilities equal to a maximum amount of 15 times their capital and reserves, while non-life insurance companies are limited to five times the amount of their capital and reserves.
Under the Insurance Companies Act, any person or entity offering insurance, either directly or indirectly, is first required to obtain authorization from the SVS. Neither individuals nor legal entities may enter into insurance contracts in Chile with an insurer not licensed to operate in Chile.
In September 2011, the government submitted a draft bill to Congress proposing amendments to the Insurance Companies Act. The bill proposes the establishment of a new monitoring system based on the evaluation of the financial risk and the risk management of insurance companies. As of the date of this report, the bill is under discussion.
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As of December 31, 2015, there were 24 insurance companies operating in non-life insurance and 36 companies in the life insurance sector.
The Chilean insurance market is open to foreign investors, who are required to establish a Chilean corporation and operate it with a minimum equity capital of UF 90,000 (approximately US$3.3million as of December 31, 2015).
Insurance companies are Chile’s second largest institutional investors, based on total volume of assets. As of December 31, 2015, the combined value of the portfolios of insurance companies stood at US$40.7 billion.
In December 2013, a new insurance law, Law No. 20,667, was enacted amending all regulations referring to the insurance sector. The new regulation introduced the following main changes: the removal of many formalities regarding insurance agreements, the incorporation of a “risk statement” to be issued by the insurer regarding the risk insured, and criminal regulation about fraud in insurance matters, among other changes.
Mutual and Investment Funds
Mutual Funds
Mutual funds were created in Chile in the 1960s. Their legal framework was comprehensively reformed in 1976. The Chilean mutual fund system faced serious difficulties during the financial crisis of 1983. However, since the early 1990s, mutual funds have had a sustained development increasing the investment alternatives in the market.
In 2001, legal initiatives intended to deregulate the mutual fund industry were introduced, providing the funds with more flexibility in their investment policy, and at the same time imposing higher standards for transparency and disclosure. Also in 2001, General Funds Managers (Administradoras Generales de Fondos) were introduced, allowing mutual funds, investment funds and housing funds to be organized under a unique managing structure, permitting them to take advantage of economies of scale in the administration of funds.
Currently, there are eight types of mutual funds, categorized by the types and maturities of securities they are permitted to invest. By the end of 2015, 512 mutual funds were chartered in Chile, with collective portfolios totaling approximately US$40.2 billion.
Investment Funds
Investment funds have been regulated since the early 1990s by Law No. 18,815, which established the funds’ legal structure. By December 31, 2015, a total of 115 investment funds, excluding private investment funds, which are not subject to registration, were operating in Chile. As of December 31, 2015, total assets of these funds equaled US$12.6 billion, distributed principally among real estate investment funds, venture capital investment funds, securities investment funds and international investment funds.
Like mutual funds, the General Funds Manager structure approved as part of the capital markets reform positively affected investment funds.
General
The government believes that long term economic policies have played an important role in maintaining macroeconomic stability without sacrificing the government’s commitment to reduce poverty and create equal economic opportunities for low-income families.
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The main features of Chile’s fiscal policy are the following:
| · | a countercyclical policy based on a Structural Balance Policy Rule; |
| · | using debt to finance government policies and to support the domestic market; and |
| · | a commitment to social welfare. |
Public Sector Accounts and Fiscal Statistics
Public Sector Accounts
Chile’s public sector accounts reflect the revenues and expenditures of the central government. Public sector debt is comprised of all debt incurred by the central government. Separate accounts are kept for municipalities; non-financial public sector institutions, including state-owned enterprises; and Banco Estado. Only capital gains from privatizations, if any, are recorded as capital revenues and presented in Chile’s public sector accounts.
Public sector accounts do not include the Chilean Central Bank’s accounts. The Chilean Central Bank runs deficits or surpluses principally due to currency mismatching. In 2015, the Chilean Central Bank recorded a gain of US$2.4 billion, compared with a gain of US$0.5 billion in 2014, mainly due to exchange rate fluctuations. The Chilean Central Bank’s equity (patrimonio neto) was US$0.5 billion as of December 31, 2015, compared to US$(5.8) billion as of December 31, 2014.
The system of local governments currently consists of 345 municipalities. Each municipality is a separate entity responsible for managing its own assets and budget but lacks authority to levy or collect taxes or incur financial indebtedness. Municipal budgets are funded by municipal fees and taxes collected on behalf of municipalities by the central government
Fiscal Policy Framework — Structural Balance Policy Rule
The purpose of the current fiscal policy is to contribute to macroeconomic stability and efficiently and effectively manage public assets, create and improve opportunities and ensure social protection. In order to fulfill these goals, this policy has focused on the efficient use of public resources and the transparency in their management.
Since 2001, Chilean fiscal policy has been guided by the Structural Balance Policy Rule, which requires government spending to be based on long-term revenues (known as structural fiscal revenues). Structural fiscal revenues are determined by reference to projected economic activity based on capital and labor conditions and the price of copper, estimated in advance by independent economic experts. By linking public spending to trends in structural fiscal revenues rather than cyclical fluctuations in economic activity, copper prices and other similar factors, this helps mitigate adjustments in public spending in face of adverse economic effects or when the government receives substantial transitory revenues.
In September 2006, Law No. 20,128, or the Fiscal Responsibility Law (Ley Sobre Responsabilidad Fiscal) made the Structural Balance Policy Rule mandatory for the government. See “Public Sector Finances—Fiscal Responsibility Law.”
Overall, the Structural Balance Policy Rule has effectively helped to:
| · | reduce the sovereign risk (the baseline risk for the private sector); |
| · | make long-term spending sustainable, decreasing the vulnerability of fiscal spending to abrupt changes in external conditions; |
| · | provide a source of internal savings in periods of strong growth, limiting the need for foreign capital; |
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| · | remove the traditionally cyclical effect of government spending, reducing the extent to which the Chilean Central Bank needs to raise interest rates to avoid over-heating; and |
| · | add predictability and credibility to government policies, eliminating the potential interpretation of spending increases in recessions as populist responses to the cycle. |
The structural balance goal was set as a surplus of 1.0% of GDP in 2001, which was reduced to 0.5% of GDP by 2008, and further reduced to a structural fiscal balance (0.0%) in 2009. In 2010, the calculation methodology for the Structural Balance Policy Rule was adjusted, revealing a structural deficit of 3.1% of GDP and 2.1% of GDP for 2009 and 2010, respectively, using 2003 prices as a base for GDP. See “—New Methodology for Structural Balance Policy Rule.” Structural deficits measured in accordance with the new methodology represented 1.0% of GDP in 2011, 0.4% of GDP in 2012, 0.5% of GDP in 2013 and 0.5 % of GDP in 2014, using 2008 prices as to calculate GDP. The government’s current estimate for 2015 is that the structural fiscal deficit represented 1.6% of GDP. As a result of recently adopted revisions to the calculation methodology and adjustments to the presentation of the structural balance (intended to capture in the presentation on-going revisions of the structural parameters (i.e., real GDP growth and long term copper price) used in calculating the structural balance), Supreme Decree No. 1,378, issued in October 2015, set a structural fiscal deficit reduction target of 0.25% of GDP per year for the 2016-2018 period, from the 1.6% of GDP structural deficit calculated for 2015. See “—New Methodology for Structural Balance Policy Rule.”
New Methodology for Structural Balance Policy Rule
In 2010, the government appointed a special committee to assess the calculation methodology of the Structural Balance Policy Rule and make recommendations for adjustment, if appropriate. The special committee’s recommendations were adopted by the Ministry of Finance and served as a basis for the 2011 budget. The main adjustments introduced by the new methodology consisted of excluding temporary tax adjustments from structural income, and excluding the cyclical adjustments to interest on financial assets of the public treasury applied under the initial methodology. In addition, the elasticity of social security contributions for health care was recalculated. In 2009 and 2010, the change in methodology resulted in structural deficits of 3.1% and 2.1% of GDP, respectively, using 2003 prices.
The table below sets forth the structural balance rules in the years indicated under the old and new methodologies:
Comparison of Structural Balance Methodology
(% of total GDP)(1)
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | ||||||||||||||||
| Effective balance | 7.7 | 8.2 | 4.3 | (4.5 | ) | (0.4 | ) | |||||||||||||
| Structural balance (initial methodology)(2) | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.0 | (1.2 | ) | N.A. | ||||||||||||||
| Structural balance (new methodology)(3) | 1.4 | 1.1 | (0.8 | ) | (3.0 | ) | (2.0 | ) | ||||||||||||
| (1) | Calculated using 2003 prices as a base for GDP. |
| (2) | Calculated using the 2009 structural balance calculation method. |
| (3) | Calculated using the structural balance calculation methodology adopted in September 2010. Certain data differs slightly with respect to published information due to recent updating of GDP data by the Chilean Central Bank. |
Source: Chilean Budget Office. Special Committee Report.
The final report of the special committee was delivered during the first half of 2011 and its suggestions were implemented in the 2012 budget.
In July 2011, the Minister of Finance, acting on a suggestion of the special committee, created a Fiscal Advisory Board to craft a second generation of structural rules. This group comprises five independent experts with experience in fiscal and budgeting topics. The Fiscal Advisory Board’s main goal is to provide expert advice for the calculation of the structural variables of the Chilean economy, additional market confidence and increased transparency on the Structural Balance Policy Rule.
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In September 2015, the Ministry of Finance adopted revisions to the calculation methodology and adjustments to the presentation of the structural balance (intended to capture in the presentation on-going revisions of the structural parameters (i.e., real GDP growth and long term copper price) used in calculating the structural balance), and eliminated the molybdenum price cyclical adjustment from the parameters used to determine the structural balance.
In January 2016, as a result of a change in international copper prices, the Minister of Finance requested the determination of a new long-term copper price.
The table below sets forth the variations in the structural balance calculation for the years indicated resulting from the adoption of the new methodology:
| 2015 | 2016 | |||||||
| Structural balance (former methodology)(1) | (0.9 | ) | N.A. | |||||
| Structural balance (new methodology)(2) | (1.6 | ) | (1.4 | ) | ||||
| (1) | Forecast with former parameters and excluding molybdenum price adjustment. |
| (2) | Current forecast with new parameters, excluding molybdenum price adjustment and updated assumptions pursuant to the determination of the new long-term copper price as of July 2016. |
Source: Chilean Budget Office.
Fiscal Responsibility Law
The Fiscal Responsibility Law provides the institutional framework for the Structural Balance Policy Rule that, prior to the enactment of this legislation, depended exclusively on administrative decisions and the relevant authority’s discretion. The statute draws on recommendations made by organizations such as the IMF, the IADB, the World Bank and the OECD with respect to best international practices on fiscal responsibility and transparency. The most important aspects of the Fiscal Responsibility Law related to the Structural Balance Policy Rule are described below.
Establishment of Principles of Fiscal Policy
Under the Fiscal Responsibility Law, each president must establish the principles of the administration’s fiscal policy within 90 days of taking office and expressly declare the implications this will have for the structural fiscal balance. Ministry of Finance Decree No. 637 of 2010 set out the principles of President Piñera’s fiscal policy, including the goal to achieve equilibrium in the structural balance by the end of his presidential term in March 2014. The decree committed the government to follow the Structural Fiscal Balance Rule despite the higher than expected expenses arising from the earthquake and tsunami reconstruction plan and the 2009 global economic slowdown. However, in 2011 Decree No. 1,357 replaced and amended the target set by 2010 Ministry of Finance Decree No. 637, establishing that the goal was to achieve the equivalent of a structural deficit of 1.0% of GDP (instead of a structural balance) by 2014.
President Bachelet set the fiscal policy target in Decree No. 892 of July 2014, which established that the goal for the current administration is to achieve a structural balance (0.0% of GDP) by 2018. However, in October 2015, the government set a structural fiscal deficit reduction target of 0.25% of GDP per year for the 2016-2018 period, starting in 2016. See “—Public Sector Accounts and Financial Statistics—Fiscal Policy Framework—Structural Balance Policy Rule.”
Annual Calculation of Structural Balance
The Fiscal Responsibility Law also requires the government to report the structural situation of public finances, reflecting the sustainability of the fiscal policy to be implemented and the macroeconomic and financial implications of the government’s budgetary policy. The calculation of the public sector structural balance for the relevant fiscal year is a mandatory component of the budgeting process.
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Contingent Liabilities
The government must disclose information regarding undertakings it has entered by way of financial guarantees. The Chilean Budget Office must report annually the total amount and nature of the liabilities for which state guarantees have been provided.
Pension Reserve Fund
The Fiscal Responsibility Law created a Pension Reserve Fund (Fondo de Reserva de Pensiones, or FRP) to cover future increases in expenditures for state-financed minimum pensions and old-age benefits. The FRP seeks to spread over time the financial burden that these liabilities will involve for the government and, at the same time, to clarify and explicitly incorporate this liability into the budgeting process and consider this factor in establishing the structural balance target.
The Fiscal Responsibility Law established an FRP contribution equivalent to the previous year’s effective fiscal surplus, with an upper limit of 0.5% of GDP and a guaranteed minimum of 0.2% of GDP. Over the first ten years of its life, no funds can be drawn. Thereafter the FRP can be up to a third of the annual increase in total expenditures for guaranteed pensions and old-age benefits. It is expected that the FRP will be exhausted in 2021, so long as withdrawals from the FRP in any calendar year do not exceed 5.0% of the expenditures for minimum pensions and old-age benefits envisaged in the budget for that year.
The FRP was created in December 2006, with an initial contribution of US$605 million.
The table below sets forth the contributions to and withdrawals from the FRP during the periods indicated, as well as the assets of the FRP at the end of each period:
Contribution (in millions of US$) | Withdrawals (in millions of US$) | Total Assets at December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | ||||||||||||
| 2006 | 604.5 | 0.0 | 604.5 | |||||||||||
| 2007 | 736.4 | 0.0 | 1,466.4 | |||||||||||
| 2008 | 909.1 | 0.0 | 2,506.8 | |||||||||||
| 2009 | 836.7 | 0.0 | 3,420.8 | |||||||||||
| 2010 | 337.3 | 0.0 | 3,836.7 | |||||||||||
| 2011 | 443.3 | 0.0 | 4,405.6 | |||||||||||
| 2012 | 1,197.4 | 0.0 | 5,883.3 | |||||||||||
| 2013 | 1,376.8 | 0.0 | 7,335.1 | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 498.9 | 0.0 | 7,943.7 | |||||||||||
| 2015 | 463.9 | 0.0 | 8,112.2 | |||||||||||
Economic and Social Stabilization Fund
The law authorized the government to set up the Economic and Social Stabilization Fund (FEES) to absorb the existing Copper Income Stabilization Funds, establishing norms for the operation and management of this fund, contributions to this fund and other matters. The FEES is designed mainly to serve as a complement to the structural fiscal balance and to provide the government with a stable financial horizon by ensuring that a portion of any fiscal surplus is saved to be used to finance the government when there is a structural deficit. In this way, the fund is intended to insulate social spending from sharp changes in the economic cycle and in prices of copper and molybdenum, while harnessing public saving to strengthen the Chilean economy’s competitiveness.
The FEES was formed in March 2007, with an initial contribution of US$2.58 billion, (including US$2.56 billion that had previously been included in the Copper Income Stabilization Funds). During 2009, US$9.3 billion were withdrawn to finance various expenditures contemplated in the 2009 budget. See “The Economy—Global Financial Crisis—Economic Performance and Policies of 2008 and 2009.”
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The table below sets forth the contributions to and withdrawals from the FEES during the periods indicated, as well as the assets of the FEES at the end of each period:
Contribution (in millions of US$) | Withdrawals (in millions of US$) | Total Assets at December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | ||||||||||||
| 2007 | 13,100.0 | 0.0 | 14,032.6 | |||||||||||
| 2008 | 5,000.0 | 0.0 | 20,210.7 | |||||||||||
| 2009 | 0.0 | 9,277.7 | 11,284.8 | |||||||||||
| 2010 | 1,362.3 | 150.0 | 12,720.1 | |||||||||||
| 2011 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13,156.6 | |||||||||||
| 2012 | 1,700.0 | 0.0 | 14,997.5 | |||||||||||
| 2013 | 603.4 | 0.0 | 15,419.1 | |||||||||||
| 2014 | 0.0 | 498.9 | 14,688.8 | |||||||||||
| 2015 | 0.0 | 463.9 | 13,966.3 | |||||||||||
Capitalization of the Chilean Central Bank
Under the Fiscal Responsibility Law, the government was authorized to capitalize the Chilean Central Bank until 2010, but only to the extent of the balance of the fiscal surplus that remained after the government had made its contribution to the FRP. In other words, the FRP has priority over other possible uses of the previous year’s fiscal surplus. Any portion of the fiscal surplus not used to capitalize the FRP or the Central Bank can be contributed to the FEES. Amounts equivalent to 0.5% of the annual GDP were contributed to the Chilean Central Bank in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Due to the fiscal deficit, no contribution was made in 2009 or 2010. Since the expiration of the authorization included in the Fiscal Responsibility Law, the government has not submitted any further bill to capitalize the Chilean Central Bank.
Investment Portfolio
The Fiscal Responsibility Law regulates how the Ministry of Finance invests the assets held in these new funds and other fiscal assets. Consistent with the rules adopted for the FRP, the Fiscal Responsibility Law establishes that portfolio managers may be hired for the FEES or, if the Ministry of Finance so decides, investments may be made directly by the Chilean Treasury Service. In addition, the Ministry of Finance is also empowered to entrust management of part or all of these resources to the Chilean Central Bank, acting directly or, following a tender, through third parties. If the Ministry of Finance relies on third parties for portfolio management or for certain of the transactions associated with the administration of financial assets, it must periodically commission independent audits of the condition of the funds and their management by these third parties. In addition, the law requires the Ministry of Finance to publish quarterly reports as to the condition of these funds.
Similarly, the Fiscal Responsibility Law created a financial committee to advise the Ministry of Finance on decisions regarding the investment of fiscal resources and the instructions it issues. The committee was established in 2007 with six experienced professionals in the fields of economics and finances as its members.
Management of Public Sector Assets and Liabilities
The Fiscal Responsibility Law contains rules designed to improve the management of the public sector’s assets and liabilities. Among these, the law regulates operations that commit the government to future payments, affecting institutional financial responsibilities and those of the state as a whole, and it also empowers the Ministry of National Property to charge for the use of properties it manages in order to reflect the real institutional cost of their use and promote efficiency in the use of state properties. The law also includes rules for the approval of information and evaluation systems that refer to investment projects.
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Unemployment Contingency Program
The Anti-Unemployment Contingency Program (Programa de Contingencia contra el Desempleo) is intended to provide the government with adequate tools to address future high unemployment rates at a national, regional or local level. In practice, the program can be activated whenever the conditions established by the law are met — that is, when the national three-month rolling average unemployment rate, measured by the INE, exceeds its average for the previous five months, or when it reaches 10.0% or more. In addition, the program can be activated when these conditions are not met but unemployment has nevertheless reached at least 10.0% in one or more Regions or specific provinces. In those cases, its resources can be used in the Region or province with the highest unemployment rates, or when unemployment reaches at least 10.0% in a specific locality even though the rate for the corresponding Region or province is less than 10.0%. The program became operational in June 2009 and the facilities available (direct employment as well as public investment initiatives that generate indirect employment opportunities, as well as unemployment benefits) were used in each of 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Since the last quarter of 2012, official reports classify unemployment programs as follows, based on the objective pursued: (i) employment program for economic downturns, (ii) support for small business programs, (iii) work training and employment program, and (iv) public works programs.
Oil Prices Stabilization Funds
In 1991, the government created the first Oil Prices Stabilization Fund (Fondo de Estabilización de Precios del Petróleo, or OPSF) as a mechanism to mitigate the impact of fluctuations of international prices on domestic consumers of oil and related products. OPSF was triggered whenever the parity price (provided by the average international price from the two previous weeks) falls outside the reference band (with upper and lower limits of 12.5% over or below the reference price, respectively). Thus, when oil prices were above or below the reference band, the OPSF collected taxes or provides subsidies, to stabilize the mid-term trend in such prices. In June 2010, the OPSF was terminated.
In June 2010 the government created a new two-phase tax system instead of a fund system. The new system became effective in February 2011. The first phase of the system was initially called Sistema de Protección al Contribuyente del Impuesto Específico a los Combustibles (SIPCO), but was later modified in June 2014 and renamed Mecanismo de Estabilización de Precios de los Combustibles (MEPCO). This phase decreases taxes when international oil prices rise and increases taxes when such prices decline, such that the Chilean Treasury assumes the effects of stabilization on its tax revenue. The price band was set at 5.0% in 2014 and reference prices are set in pesos. In the second phase (Seguro de Protección al Contribuyente del Impuesto Específico a los Combustibles, or SEPCO), at the government’s discretion, the Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Republic of Chile, is authorized to enter into derivatives to hedge oil price increases. The cost and indemnities paid under the derivatives are transferred to the specific indemnities paid under the derivatives are transferred to the specific tax applied to oil products which decreases when international oil prices exceed the reference band and increases when prices decline below the reference band, thereby transferring the benefits of this stabilization mechanism to consumers. Legislation approved in May 2012 improved SEPCO to avoid extreme shifts in consumer oil prices. This second phase has not been implemented.
Budget Law and Political Initiatives
Congress cannot propose legislation on taxation, social security benefits, central government spending, employment programs or public financial management. Only the executive branch can propose bills on these matters, subject to approval or disapproval by Congress.
The responsibility for the preparation of the central government budget lies with the Ministry of Finance, which establishes overall targets and then works with the various ministries regarding specific allocations. Based on this work, the President submits a budget bill to Congress no later than three months prior to its effective date (generally, each September 30). Congress reviews the proposed budget, but is only permitted to reduce expenditures; it may not change revenue estimates, increase expenditure items, reallocate funds or change financial management regulations. Congressional approval is normally obtained by the end of November. If the budget bill is not passed by Congress within 60 days of its submission by the president, it is deemed approved and becomes law. The government may submit to Congress supplementary budget bills in order to amend the budget law.
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The following tables set forth a summary of public sector accounts (calculated on an accrual basis and as a percentage of GDP for the periods indicated):
Public Sector Finances
(In billions of US$ and % of total GDP)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | (US$) | (%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current Revenues and Expenditures | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenues | 57.0 | 22.7 | 59.0 | 22.2 | 58.3 | 21.0 | 53.6 | 20.7 | 51.3 | 21.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net taxes(1) | 43.7 | 17.4 | 46.8 | 17.6 | 46.4 | 16.7 | 43.0 | 16.6 | 42.3 | 17.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copper revenues (2) | 5.7 | 2.3 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Social Security contributions | 3.4 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 1.4 | 4.0 | 1.4 | 3.7 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 1.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Donations | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Real property incomes | 1.1 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 0.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operational revenues(3) | 1.2 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 0.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other revenues | 1.7 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 0.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Expenditures | 43.5 | 17.3 | 47.0 | 17.7 | 49.9 | 18.0 | 48.0 | 18.5 | 46.3 | 19.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wages and salaries | 10.2 | 4.1 | 11.1 | 4.2 | 11.9 | 4.3 | 11.4 | 4.4 | 11.0 | 4.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Goods and services | 5.4 | 2.2 | 5.4 | 2.0 | 5.6 | 2.0 | 5.6 | 2.2 | 5.0 | 2.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest on public debt | 1.4 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 0.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Transfer payments | 15.7 | 6.3 | 17.7 | 6.7 | 19.4 | 7.0 | 18.8 | 7.3 | 18.6 | 7.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Transfers to social security | 10.7 | 4.2 | 11.1 | 4.2 | 11.3 | 4.1 | 10.6 | 4.0 | 9.9 | 4.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Others | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital Revenues and Expenditures | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenues | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Asset sales | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Expenditures | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investment | 5.4 | 2.1 | 5.5 | 2.1 | 5.5 | 2.0 | 5.2 | 2.0 | 5.6 | 2.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital transfers | 4.9 | 1.9 | 5.1 | 1.9 | 4.7 | 1.7 | 4.7 | 1.8 | 4.7 | 0.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Central government balance | 3.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 0.6 | (1.7 | ) | (0.6 | ) | (4.2 | ) | (1.6 | ) | (5.2 | ) | (2.2 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Structural balance(4) | (2.5 | ) | (1.0 | ) | (0.8 | ) | (0.3 | ) | (1.4 | ) | (0.5 | ) | (1.3 | ) | (0.5 | ) | (3.6 | ) | (1.6 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Non-financial public institutions balance | 6.2 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 3.0 | 1.2 | n.a | n.a | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consolidated non-financial public sector surplus (deficit) | 9.3 | 3.7 | 6.0 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.3 | (1.2 | ) | (0.5 | ) | n.a | n.a | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (1) | Taxes collected net of refunds. |
| (2) | Excludes transfers from Codelco under Law No. 13,196. This law (Ley Reservada del Cobre), which is not publicly disclosed, earmarks 10% of Codelco’s revenues from the export of copper and related byproducts for defense spending and these funds are therefore excluded from the central government’s current revenues. Defense spending is considered an extrabudgetary expense in accordance with IMF accounting guidelines. |
| (3) | Includes capital gains for the sale of companies in which the central government held a stake, such as Edelnor (renamed E-CL), which was sold by Codelco in 2010. |
| (4) | Reflects the amount that revenues and fiscal spending would have reached if GDP growth were at its trend level and the price of copper were at the medium-term price; therefore, it is intended to exclude the effects of cyclical economic activity fluctuations and the price of copper. |
Source: Chilean Budget Office
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Public sector revenues increased to Ps.30,411 billion (equivalent to US$53.4 billion) in 2014 from Ps.28,835 billion (equivalent to US$58.3 billion) in 2013. An increase in revenues from net taxes that was set off in part by a decrease in copper revenues. Net taxes increased to Ps.24,485 billion (equivalent to US$43 billion) for 2014 compared to Ps.22,953 billion (equivalent to US$46.4 billion) for 2013, which represented an increase of 7% (measured in pesos) as compared to 2013. Copper revenues decreased by 4% to Ps.1,354 billion (equivalent to US$2.4 billion) from Ps.1,413 billion (equivalent to US$2.9 billion) in 2013. This decline is attributable a decrease in the annual average of price for copper, which was US$3.1 per pound in 2014 as compared to US$3.3 per pound in 2013.
Public sector revenues increased to Ps.33,548 billion (equivalent to US$51.3 billion) in 2015 from Ps. 30,571 billion (equivalent to US$53.6 billion) in 2014. An increase in revenues from net taxes that was set off in part by a decrease in copper revenues. Net taxes increased to Ps.27,677 billion (equivalent to US$42.3 billion) for 2015 compared to Ps. 24,485 billion (equivalent to US$43 billion) for 2014, which represented an increase of 13% (measured in pesos) as compared to 2014. Copper revenues decreased by 48% to Ps.703 billion (equivalent to US$1.1 billion) in 2015 from Ps. 1,353 billion (equivalent to US$2.4 billion) in 2014. This decline is attributable to a decrease in the annual average of price for copper, which was US$2.5 per pound in 2015 as compared to US$3.1 per pound in 2014.
As a result, for 2015 the central government recorded a fiscal deficit equivalent to US$3.4 billion, or (2.2)% of GDP, and a structural fiscal deficit of US$3.6 billion, or 1.6% of GDP, for 2015.
2016 Budget Bill
On December 5, 2015, the 2016 budget law (Law No. 20,882) for the government and public sector agencies was published in the Official Gazette, complemented as published in the Official Gazette on December 24, 2015, and amended on December 26, 2015, by Law No. 20,890. Total budgeted expenditures (approximately US$57.5 billion), including transfers, goods and services, represented a 4.4% increase from the projected total expenditures for 2015. Budgeted expenditures for 2016 reflect an increase of 6.3% in current expenditures and a 3.5% decrease in capital spending, compared to projected current and capital spending expenditures for 2015. As compared to 2015, budgeted expenditures for 2016 include a 6.3% increase in transfers expenditure, which include subsidies, donations and social security in furtherance of the social safety net supported by the government.
The following table sets forth central government budgeted and actual expenditures for 2015 and budgeted expenditures for 2016:
Central Government(1)
(in billions of pesos, except percentages)
| Budget Law 2015 | Actual Expenditures 2015 | Budget Law 2016 | Percentage Growth(2) | Percentage Growth(3) | ||||||||||||||||
| Current Expenditures | 30,530 | 31,265 | 33,234 | 8.9 | % | 6.3 | % | |||||||||||||
| Capital Expenditures | 7,244 | 7,296 | 7,043 | (2.8 | )% | (3.5 | )% | |||||||||||||
| Total Expenditures | 37,774 | 38,561 | 40,277 | 6.6 | % | 4.4 | % | |||||||||||||
| of which Transfers, Goods and Services Expenditures | 22,716 | 23,194 | 24,665 | 8.6 | % | 6.3 | % | |||||||||||||
| (1) | Calculated using constant pesos of 2016. |
| (2) | Budget Law 2016 compared with revised budget law expenditures of 2015. |
| (3) | Budget Law 2016 compared with actual expenditures of 2015. |
Source: Chilean Budget Office.
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The following table sets forth the assumptions used to calculate the structural fiscal revenues for the purpose of preparing the 2016 budget, submitted to Congress in September 2015 and the updated assumptions established in January 2016:
2016 Budget Assumptions for Structural Balance
| 2016 Budget Assumptions | ||||||||
September 2015 | August 2016 | |||||||
| Trend Real GDP growth (Average % change for the next five years) | 3.6 | 3.0 | ||||||
| Long-term Copper price (US$ cents per pound) (2016-2025) | 298 | 256 | ||||||
The following table sets forth the macroeconomic assumptions underlying the budget submitted to Congress in September 2015 and the updated macroeconomic assumptions established in August 2016:
2016 Budget Assumptions for Effective Balance
| 2016 Budget Assumptions | ||||||||
September 2015 | July 2016 | |||||||
| Real GDP growth (% change compared to 2015) | 2.8 | 1.8 | ||||||
| Real domestic demand growth (% change compared to 2015) | 2.0 | 1.4 | ||||||
| CPI (% change December 2015 compared to December 2015) | 3.8 | 4.0 | ||||||
| Annual average nominal exchange rate (Ps./US$) | 700.0 | 690.0 | ||||||
| Annual average Copper price (US$ cents per pound) | 250.0 | 215.0 | ||||||
| Annual average Molybdenum price (US$ per pound) | 8.2 | n.a. | ||||||
Source: Chilean Budget Office.
Based on the macroeconomic assumptions as revised in July 2016, revenues of the central government for 2016 are estimated at US$49.8 billion, representing an increase of 4.8% compared to the revenues estimated for 2015. This increase reflects increased tax revenue from non-mining companies which are partially offset by the expected decrease in revenues originating from Codelco (transfers and taxes) and private mining companies.
As a result, in September 2015 the government budgeted a fiscal deficit of US$7.7 billion, or 3.2% of GDP, for 2016. The 2016 budget assumed a structural fiscal deficit of 1.3% of GDP.
As of July 2016, considering the updated parameters resulting from the adjustment of the long-term copper price, the government budgeted a fiscal deficit of 3.2% of GDP, and a structural balance of 1.4% of GDP.
Government Revenue
Taxation
Government expenditures are financed principally through the collection of value-added taxes, excise taxes, income taxes, tariffs and other minor taxes, as well as operational revenues, social security revenues and transfers from state-owned companies. Tax revenues in any given year are dependent on developments affecting the economy taken as a whole, as well as variations affecting each sector of the Chilean economy. In 2015, tax revenues represented 17.6% of GDP, compared to 16.6% of GDP in 2014.
Chile’s tax structure includes indirect and direct taxes.
Indirect taxes represent the largest source of tax revenue and include value-added tax (VAT), specific consumption taxes and customs duties.
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VAT is levied at a single rate of 19.0% on sales of goods and services, as well as on imports. There are limited exemptions, principally in the area of exports of goods and services and the performance of professional and independent personal services. VAT charged on goods sold and services rendered represents for the taxpayer a fiscal debit that must be declared and paid on a monthly basis, after deducting the fiscal credit represented by VAT borne on purchases, imports or services received for the same tax period or the accumulated unused balance from prior periods.
Specific consumption taxes include taxes on fuel, tobacco and beverages sales. In 2010, the government raised the tobacco tax to approximately Ps.2.60 per cigarette, or 62.3% of the sale price per package, to help finance earthquake reconstruction efforts. In the 2014 tax reform, corrective taxes were raised, in the case of tobacco, or introduced, in the case of certain beverages. These changes are reflected in the tables below:
Corrective Taxes Rates per the 2014 Tax Reform
Beverages
(%)
| 2014 Specific Tax Rate | ||||
| Non-alcoholic beverages | 10.0 | |||
| Non-alcoholic beverages containing added sugar | 18.0 | |||
| Alcoholic beverages, wine and beer | 20.5 | |||
| Other alcoholic beverages, including distilled liquor | 31.0 | |||
Tobacco
(%)
| 2013 | 2014 | |||||||
| Ad valorem tax rate | 60.50 | 30.0 | ||||||
| Per unit (UTM)(1) | 0.000128803 | 0.0010304240 | ||||||
(1) Unidad Tributaria Mensual (monthly inflation-linked unit). As of December 31, 2014, the UTM equaled Ps.43,198.
Ad Valorem Tax Rate
Customs duties consist of an ad valorem tax on imports. The rate is 6.0%, although the effective import tariff was 0.9% in 2014 because of the volume of imports that benefit from free trade agreements to which Chile is a party.
Direct taxes include the corporate income tax and personal income tax. Under the 2014 tax reform, corporate income is annually taxed at a rate of 25.0% or 27.0%, depending on the regime companies adopt. This reform was designed to avoid tax evasion by either taking into account accrued earnings for purposes of calculating and applying final taxes even in the absence of effective distributions, or assessing a higher tax rate if taxpayers elect to be taxed only upon effective distributions. Under the attribution regime, which levies a 25.0% tax rate on company income for each tax year, income taxes are immediately allocated to the company’s shareholders (“Regime A”). Under the partially integrated regime, tax is levied at a 27.0% rate on a company’s annual income (“Regime B”). A shareholder of a company operating under Regime B may claim a personal income tax credit of up to 65.0% of the taxes paid by the company attributable to that shareholder, unless the shareholder is resident in a country with which Chile has entered into a tax treaty, in which case the shareholder may claim a tax credit of up to 100.0% of the taxes paid by the company attributable to that shareholder.
The increase of the corporate tax will be phased in from 2014 to 2018:
Attribution Regime
(%)
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | ||||||||||||||||
| Corporate income tax | 21 | 22.5 | 24 | 25 | 25 | |||||||||||||||
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Partially Integrated Regime
(%)
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | ||||||||||||||||
| Corporate income tax | 21 | 22.5 | 24 | 25.5 | 27 | |||||||||||||||
Chilean residents (individuals) are subject to a personal progressive tax on gross income at a maximum rate of 40.0%. Wages and salaries are also subject to a progressive tax with a top marginal rate of 40%. The top marginal rate on income tax was reduced to 29% beginning January 1, 2015. Non-domiciled and non-resident individuals and entities are subject to the so-called additional tax, a withholding tax that applies to Chilean income and to certain specific payments defined in the law. This tax is assessed at a general rate of 35.0%. However, certain payments are subject to lower rates or are exempt from withholding taxation. The local taxpayer who pays these amounts is usually liable for withholding and paying the tax to the Chilean Treasury in order to ensure tax collection.
Generally, interest income paid to individuals or legal entities not domiciled in Chile is subject to withholding tax at a rate of 35.0%. There is, however, a reduced rate of 4.0% applicable to interest paid to foreign banks and financial institutions, among others. The 2014 tax reform raised the maximum stamp tax rate from 0.4% to 0.8%, effective January 1, 2016.
The following table sets forth the composition of the central government’s tax revenues for the periods indicated:
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Value-added tax | 45.2 | 45.9 | 48.7 | 49.6 | 48.0 | |||||||||||||||
| Income tax | 42.6 | 41.8 | 39.5 | 37.9 | 42.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Other taxes on goods and services | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.7 | 10.2 | 9.6 | |||||||||||||||
| Foreign trade tax(1) | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.2 | |||||||||||||||
| Other taxes | 2.5 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 1.0 | (1.0 | ) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | ||||||||||
| (1) | Customs duties. |
Source: Chilean Budget Office.
Recent Tax Reforms
In 2012, the government submitted to Congress a series of revisions to the tax regime designed to increase the government’s tax revenue with the intention that those additional revenues would be directed to the enhancement of education programs at all levels while permitting the government to achieve a structural deficit of 1.0% of GDP by 2014. In April 2012, the government announced a tax reform package, which was amended and subsequently approved by Congress in September 2012. The tax reform package made a number of changes, including:
| · | an increase to corporate income tax rates from 17.0% to 20.0%; |
| · | a reduction of individual income tax rates for individuals having a monthly income between Ps.535,000 (approximately US$880.80 as of December 31, 2014) and Ps.2,779,999 (approximately US$4,577.00 as of December 31, 2014); and |
| · | a decrease of the stamp tax applied to credit transactions and an annual tax credit of up to Ps.100,000 (approximately US$164.60 as of December 31, 2014) on education expenses per child for families with a monthly income of up to UF 66 (approximately US$2,676.10 as of December 31, 2014). |
The tax reforms adopted in 2012 were expected to generate approximately US$1 billion in additional tax revenue for the government each year, which would be applied to fund the education reform. See “The Economy—Poverty, Income Distribution and Social Reforms—Educational Reforms.”
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In April 2014, to finance the education reform and increase public sector revenues to achieve a structural balance (0.0% of GDP), the Bachelet administration announced that it would submit to Congress a series of changes to the tax regime aimed primarily at increasing corporate income tax contributions to government revenues with a view to raising tax revenues by 3.0% of GDP by 2017. After certain amendments to the tax reform package as initially proposed, Congress approved it in September 2014. The reforms will become fully effective by 2018.
The 2014 tax reform included the following changes:
| · | Increase of the corporate income tax rate: The corporate tax burden for Chilean companies increases after a gradual phase-in between 2014 and 2018 from the current 20.0% rate to 25.0% or 27.0%, depending on the regime adopted by the corporate taxpayer. |
| · | Under the attribution regime, corporate income tax will be levied at a 25.0% rate on a company’s annual taxable income. If a company selects the attribution regime, their profits will be deemed to be allocated to their shareholders, regardless of whether they are distributed or reinvested, and are considered taxable income for those shareholders. |
| · | Under the partially integrated regime, corporate income tax will be levied at a 27.0% rate on a company’s annual taxable income. If a company selects the partially integrated regime, dividends and profit distributions to the shareholders will be taxed in addition to the 27.0% corporate-level income tax using the Republic of Chile’s global complementary tax (personal tax on total income) or by withholding taxes directly from those distributions. Individuals will receive a credit for 65.0% of the taxes paid by the company attributable to that shareholder, unless the shareholder is resident in a country with which Chile has entered into a tax treaty, in which case the shareholder may claim a tax credit of up to 100.0% of the taxes paid by the company attributable to that shareholder. The tax credit is expected to ensure the progressive nature of the tax system. |
| · | Reduction in the personal income tax rate from 40.0% to 35.0%; |
| · | Simplified regime for partners of small- and medium-sized partnerships or stock companies, in each case constituted only by individuals and individual entrepreneurs, granting them the option to be taxed under the global complementary tax (personal tax on total income), rather than the corporate income tax regime; |
| · | Introduction of a general anti-avoidance and anti-fraud rule, intended to allow taxpayers to choose between legal, legitimate alternatives as long as the taxpayer’s purpose is not the avoidance of taxes; |
| · | Introduction of a fixed-source emission tax applicable to establishments with an installed power capacity of at least 50 MW. Establishments that use biomass as fuel will be excluded from this tax; |
| · | Abolishing the Fondo de Utilidades Tributarias (FUT) by 2017, which is currently used to track credits tied to undistributed profits. This system was useful in the previous fully integrated tax regime that only taxed distributions. |
| · | Individual entrepreneurs and companies constituted only by individuals will be entitled to access a special deemed income tax regime. Prior to the 2014 reform, partnerships could access a similar regime if their annual sales were equal to or less than UF 2,400 (US$97,312 as of December 31, 2014). The reform raised the maximum annual sales to: |
| i. | UF 5,000 (US$202,732 as of December 31, 2014) for businesses operating in the transport sector; |
| ii. | UF 9,000 (US$364,918 as of December 31, 2014) for businesses operating in the agriculture sector; and |
| iii. | UF 17,000 (US$689,290 as of December 31, 2014) for businesses operating in the mining sector, in each case including annual sales attributable to affiliated parties. |
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In addition, the initial capital amount for taxpayers joining the regime will be increased from the current UF 3,000 (US$108,699 as of December 31, 2015) to twice the annual sales limit of the corresponding sector.
Law No. 20,899, entered into force on February 8, 2016, clarifies and amends certain technical aspects of the 2014 tax reform, as well as modifies certain provisions established by the tax reform. Law No. 20,899 establishes that stock companies are not allowed to choose between the attribution regime and the partially integrated regime, and are therefore required to operate under the partially integrated regime.
Tax Measures for Foreign Investors
Foreign shareholders are generally subject to capital gains tax at a rate of 20.0% or 35.0%, depending on certain requirements. The 2014 tax reform eliminated the two different tax rates, subjecting all general foreign shareholders to a rate of 35.0%. Certain foreign institutional investors are exempt from capital gains tax on corporate bonds issued before May 1, 2014 and all foreign investors are exempt from capital gains tax on corporate bonds issued after May 1, 2014 as long as the issuer makes the appropriate election under article 104 of the Income Tax Law. Generally, interest income paid to individuals or legal entities not domiciled in Chile is subject to withholding tax at a rate of 35.0% (or 4.0% in certain cases).
Chile applies transfer pricing rules in transactions between related parties. In this regard, the Income Tax Law provides for the application of the following methods: cost plus method, resale minus method and reasonable profitability method (or comparable uncontrolled price method). Provided no domestic comparable securities exist, the Chilean tax administration may challenge transfer prices on the basis of information available in the international market regarding the value of the same type of goods or services.
The Chilean government has entered into, and is currently negotiating with other countries, international agreements to avoid double taxation and to prevent tax evasion. Most of these agreements are or are expected to be based on the OECD model agreement. The following table shows the status of these agreements as of the date of this prospectus:
Status of the Agreement | ||
| In force | Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand and United Kingdom. | |
| Signed | Argentina, China, Czech Republic, Italy, South Africa, United States and Japan. |
The agreement with the United States has been approved by the Chilean Congress, but is still pending the U.S. Congress approval to become effective.
The 2014 tax reform established, effective January 2017, an exception to the obligation of restitution of 35% of the corporate tax credit attached to dividends or profits distributed, for residents of double taxation treaty countries in force as of such date, thereby allowing them to claim tax credit for up to 100.0% of the corporate taxes paid by dividends or profits from a company under the partially integrated regime. Law No. 20,899 establishes that such exception will apply to residents of countries with a treaty signed before 2017, even if not in force. The exception from restitution for residents of countries with treaties signed but not in force will apply until December 31, 2019.
Government Expenditures
In recent years, central government expenditures have consisted primarily of wages, salaries and transfers to the social security system, with capital expenditures and interest on public debt accounting for most of the balance. Between 2010 and 2015, public expenditures grew in real terms at an average annual rate of 5.3% per year.
The largest category of the government’s expenditures has generally been social programs, particularly social security, health and education. In 2015, social programs accounted for 68% of total government expenditures. During the period from 2010 to 2015, expenditures for social programs grew in real terms at an average annual rate of 5.6%.
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Interest payments on public debt amounted to 2.8% of the governments expenditures in 2015, representing 0.7% of GDP.
The following table provides a summary of government expenditures by category for the dates indicated:
Central Government Expenditures
(in billions of constant 2015 Pesos)
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| National administration(1) | 5,880 | 6,090 | 6,216 | 6,724 | 6,875 | |||||||||||||||
| Social programs | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Health | 4,899 | 5,304 | 5,710 | 6,234 | 6,944 | |||||||||||||||
| Housing | 438 | 497 | 485 | 606 | 606 | |||||||||||||||
| Social security | 8,861 | 9,115 | 9,120 | 9,391 | 9,884 | |||||||||||||||
| Education | 5,382 | 5,849 | 6,393 | 6,677 | 7,392 | |||||||||||||||
| Other social programs | 359 | 399 | 397 | 408 | 429 | |||||||||||||||
| Total | 19,939 | 21,164 | 22,105 | 23,317 | 25,254 | |||||||||||||||
| Economic programs(2) | 3,973 | 3,938 | 4,140 | 4,410 | 4,872 | |||||||||||||||
| Total central government expenditures | 29,793 | 31,192 | 32,460 | 34,451 | 37,001 | |||||||||||||||
| Interest payments on public debt | 774 | 850 | 874 | 948 | 1,052 | |||||||||||||||
| (1) | Includes government, defense, justice and security functions. |
| (2) | Includes promotion and regulation of economic activities as well as the support of infrastructure projects. |
Source: Chilean Budget Office.
Public Contingent Liabilities
Public contingent liabilities may materialize depending on the course of events and from a variety of sources, as described below (only direct fiscal sources are included):
| · | Litigation: As explained below, the central government and other state-owned agencies face private lawsuits. If the courts rule against the government or if a settlement is agreed, payments are required. As of June 2015, the government had paid approximately Ps. 4,920 million (approximately US$7.0 million as of December 31, 2015) in connection with final court rulings issued in the first half of 2015. |
| · | Infrastructure Concessions Program Guarantees: Certain contracts between the government and a concessionaire guarantee minimum revenues to the private operator. If the effective revenues are less than this minimum, the government is required contractually to cover the shortfall. The government paid approximately Ps. 24.6 billion (approximately US$34.8 million as of December 31, 2015) on account of program guarantees in 2015. |
| · | Bank Time Deposit Guarantees: Time deposits have a 90.0% government guarantee in the case of bank default, up to UF 108 (approximately US$3,913 as of December 31, 2015) per individual for the system as a whole. There have been no bank defaults in Chile since the deposit guarantee program was put in place. The maximum estimated fiscal exposure as of June 30, 2015 under the government guarantee, assuming all banks defaulted, represented approximately 2.6% of GDP. |
| · | Pension Guarantees: The Chilean social security pension system provides a minimum pension guarantee to retirees that have made contributions for at least 20 years, but have not saved enough money to reach the minimum pension amount. The shortfall is covered by the government. In July 2008, pension reforms came into force that gradually raise the established minimum guaranteed by the state by establishing minimum pensions for the elderly and the handicapped even if they have not contributed or did so for less than 20 years. For 2015, government payments under the pension system represented 0.8% of GDP and are expected to gradually increase to 0.8% of GDP beginning in 2019. To guarantee the sustainable financing of the pension system, the government created the Pension Reserve Fund. |
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| · | Pension Reform Bonds: The aggregate principal amount outstanding under the pension reform bonds (Bonos de Reconocimiento) reached a peak value of 21.1% of GDP in 1997 and has decreased to 2.0% of GDP as of December 31, 2015. |
| · | Debt Guarantees: As of December 31, 2015, the total value of financial guarantees issued by the government equaled 1.1% of GDP. Internal Guarantees for locally issued debt represented 1.0% of GDP, and of these guarantees, 31.3% guarantee debt incurred by Metro, 54.0% guarantee the debt of EFE and 11.0% guarantee debt related to the financing of higher education (authorized by Law No. 20,207). |
| · | University Loan Guarantees: Since 2006, the Chilean government has undertaken to reimburse financial institutions for amounts advanced to university students that are not repaid after those students finish or otherwise terminate their studies. The Chilean Treasury is authorized to withhold amounts due from salaries or tax reimbursements to the original student debtors to recover amounts paid to universities. As of December 31, 2015, the government’s maximum exposure under the program was estimated to be 1.1% of GDP. |
| · | CORFO Investment Fund: Since 1985, the CORFO has been implementing different mechanisms to guarantee liabilities financing productive activities. With that purpose, the 2003 budget law and Decree No. 793 of the Ministry of Finance created an investment fund (Fondo de Cobertura de Riesgos) and allowed CORFO to contract indirect liabilities up to eight times its capital. The aggregate amount of the guaranteed liabilities as of December 31, 2015 totaled approximately Ps. 1,536,491 billion (approximately US$2.2 billion as of December 31, 2015). CORFO’s liabilities are not expressly guaranteed by the government. |
| · | Small Enterprise Guarantees Fund (FOGAPE): The FOGAPE is a fund designated to guarantee financing granted by public or private financial institutions to small companies. Its potential market segment includes small companies meeting one of the following requirements: (a) companies with maximum annual sales of UF 25,000 (approximately US$0.9 million as of December 31, 2015); (b) exporting companies with annual average sales in the two immediately preceding calendar years of no more than US$16.7 million; or (c) nonprofit legal entities and “sociedades de personas” (partnerships where the specific qualities of the partners are the reason for their business formation, such as limited liability companies) for irrigation and other infrastructure projects. However, in addition to the requirements above, Law No. 20,318 allowed, for a 24-month period beginning January 2009, the use of the fund for companies with sales between UF 25,000 and UF 500,000 (approximately from US$0.9 million to US$18.1 million as of December 31, 2015). In 2015, guarantees issued by FOGAPE did not give rise to a material contingency, individually or in the aggregate. |
As of December 31, 2015, the government’s total contingent liabilities were equal to approximately 4.3% of GDP.
Government Litigation
Chile and many of its governmental agencies are currently, and may in the future be, subject to lawsuits before various courts. Although Chile is actively defending current disputes through the Council for the Defense of the State (Consejo de Defensa del Estado, or CDE), other specialized agencies and private domestic and international law firms, no assurances can be given regarding their outcome.
Domestically, Chile is a defendant in lawsuits before local courts seeking redress for damages allegedly caused by the actions of public institutions or civil servants. Legal defense for these cases is mainly undertaken by the Council for the Defense of the State. As of June 30, 2015, there were approximately 28,000 active cases throughout the country, with aggregate claims of Ps. 12,117,605 million (approximately US$17.1 billion as of December 31, 2015), involving expropriation, criminal, civil, tax and other matters.
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Claims against Chile regarding infrastructure concessions are resolved by a special arbitral system. As of December 31, 2015, disputes pending before the arbitral system involved claims representing approximately 0.2% of GDP. The Chilean government has made payments on approximately 26.0% of all claims brought against it since the system began operating. See “The Economy—Privatization and Infrastructure—Public Works—Infrastructure Concessions.”
Government-owned Enterprises
The following table sets forth the government’s share ownership and total assets of the principal state-owned enterprises as of December 31, 2015, and revenue and net income (loss) for the year ended December 31, 2015:
| Percentage of State Ownership as of December 31, 2015 | Total Assets at December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | Revenue for the Year Ended December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | Net Income (Loss) for the Year Ended December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | |||||||||||||
| Main Public Sector Enterprises: | ||||||||||||||||
| Banco Estado (financial) | 100.0 | 46,017 | 1.577 | 174 | ||||||||||||
| Codelco (copper) | 100.0 | 33,444 | 11.693 | (2.328 | ) | |||||||||||
| ENAP (oil and gas) | 100.0 | 3,137 | 5.728 | 246 | ||||||||||||
| Enami (mining) | 100.0 | 703 | 341 | (59 | ) | |||||||||||
| EFE (railway) | 100.0 | 2,130 | 85 | (100 | ) | |||||||||||
| Metro S.A. (Santiago’s subway) | 100.0 | 5,346 | 425 | (219 | ) | |||||||||||
Source: Chilean Budget Office.
Banco Estado
Banco Estado is an autonomous commercial bank, wholly owned by the state, subject to the same laws and regulations as Chilean private-sector banks and supervised by the SBIF. It is one of the largest Chilean financial institutions. As of December 31, 2015, Banco Estado had 380 branches and over 8.2 million term savings accounts. It offers comprehensive financial services throughout the country, with an extensive network of electronic distribution channels and branches extending to rural areas as well. It also contributes to the development of the local economy, playing a significant role in permitting credit access for small- and medium-sized enterprises and in savings for small investors. Banco Estado accesses the international capital markets from time to time, as part of its financing strategy. The government also makes capital contributions from time to time, whether in cash or by authorizing the capitalization of distributable net income.
Codelco
Codelco is a mining enterprise wholly owned by the State. Codelco’s corporate purpose is to maximize the value of its mineral resources for the benefit of its shareholder, the Republic of Chile, by fully developing its vast mining resources on a timely basis, leveraging its experienced workforce, utilizing its advanced technological assets in key areas and executing strategic initiatives related to its (1) capital expenditure program, (2) improvement in operations, (3) exploration efforts, (4) investment in human capital and (5) mining association with third parties. As part of its strategy to increase production and revenues, Codelco has undertaken several projects, business ventures and associations with private sector mining and non-mining enterprises.
Under Chilean Law, Codelco’s net earnings are subject to an additional tax of 40.0% in addition to ordinary corporate income tax. Codelco is also subject to an additional mining tax that is based on its operating income each year. Income tax payments and other taxes paid by Codelco to the Chilean Treasury 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 were US$3.9 billion, US$1.8 billion, US$0.9 billion, US$0.6 billion and US$0.2, respectively.
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In addition, the Reserved Copper Act (Ley Reservada del Cobre) sets forth the government’s obligation to contribute to defense spending (e.g., renewal of war material and equipment), an amount equal to 10.0% of Codelco’s revenues from the export of copper and related byproducts. Such funds are directly transferred by Codelco to the General Treasury of the Republic (Tesorería General de la República, or the Chilean Treasury) and then segregated in a special extra-budgetary Treasury account. Transfers under the Reserved Copper Act totaled US$1.6 billion (0.7% of GDP), US$1.3 billion (0.5% of GDP), US$1.2 billion (0.5% of GDP), US$1.0 billion (0.4% of GDP) and US$0.9 billion (0.4% of GDP), in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. There is a bill under discussion in Congress that, if passed, would create a new model for financing military expenses eliminating the contributions set forth in the Reserved Copper Act.
In June 2015, the Ministries of Mining and Finance approved capital contributions of US$600 million to Codelco. The government has obtained legislative approval to contribute an additional US$4 billion to finance Codelco’s capital expenditure plan. Codelco is the largest company in Chile in terms of sales.
Codelco accesses the international debt capital markets from time to time, to finance its operations.
ENAP
ENAP is a state-owned enterprise dedicated to the exploration, development and production of crude oil wells, both in Chile and abroad. ENAP also engages in the refining of crude oil to be sold to private distributors. ENAP was incorporated in 1950 and has diversified its corporate activities and business purpose from the production of crude oil wells in Chile to the refining and export of oil products, and the exploration and development of oil wells in several countries around the world. In May 2010, the government transferred responsibility for ENAP from the Ministry of Mining to the Ministry of Energy, with the Minister of Energy now serving as chairman of ENAP’s board of directors.
In October 2014, the government submitted a bill to Congress to expand the business purpose of ENAP to include the electricity generation through ENAP’s affiliates. The bill was approved by Congress and published in the Official Gazette on February 5, 2016.
In 2014, ENAP’s sales totaled 11.4 million cubic meters of crude oil and its by-products, of which 11.1 million cubic meters were sold to the local market, supplying 61.3% of the total national fuel demand. Approximately 0.28 million cubic meters of crude oil and by-products were exported.
In 2015, ENAP’s sales totaled 11.7 million cubic meters of crude oil and its by-products, of which 11.28 million cubic meters were sold to the local market, supplying 59.2% of the total national fuel demand. Approximately 0.45 million cubic meters of crude oil and by-products were exported mainly to Peru.
ENAP accesses local and international bank and capital markets from time to time to finance its operations.
Enami
Enami is a wholly government-owned enterprise dedicated to the development of small and medium-scale mining companies by facilitating their access to the precious metals market under competitive conditions. To meet these goals, Enami conducts the following operations:
| · | Mining Development. This operation involves mining-venture financing, technical assistance for the preparation and evaluation of projects, allocation of credit resources for the implementation of feasible projects, and access to the market by means of authorized ore purchases; |
| · | Ore Processing. Enami transforms sulfide and oxide ores with low copper grades into smelting products, concentrates and precipitates. Enami began producing electrowinning (EW) cathodes from oxidized ore processing in 2003; and |
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| · | Smelters and Refinery. This operation involves Enami’s main assets ensuring the processing of the production of small- and medium-sized mining firms, under the same terms as those offered to large-scale producers in Chile. In 2005, the Ventanas foundry and smelting facility was transferred to Codelco. Enami used the proceeds of this sale to pay down its debts and begin to transfer profits to the Chilean Treasury. |
EFE
EFE is a wholly government-owned enterprise dedicated to the development and management of railway infrastructure. EFE’s business is divided into three segments: passenger, cargo transportation services and real estate management. EFE’s passenger business is conducted through three affiliated operating companies: Metro Regional de Valparaíso S.A. (MERVAL), Trenes Metropolitanos S.A. (TMSA), and Ferrocarriles Suburbanos de Concepción S.A. (FESUB).
Chile currently has a railroad network of approximately 2,200 kilometers that extends from Regions V to X. EFE is responsible for the maintenance of, and improvements to the tracks, the signaling, electrification and communication systems, control centers and the stations.
In 2015, EFE had operating revenues derived from passenger transport (54.2 %), cargo (30.0 %) and real estate management (15.8 %).
Metro
Metro is a company wholly owned by the government. Its corporate purpose is the development, construction and operation of an urban railroad network, which is mainly underground and covers the city of Santiago and includes stations and maintenance workshops. In 2015, the railway network was composed of five interconnected lines totaling approximately 103 kilometers and 108 stations servicing approximately 661 million passenger trips per year and including 1093 wagons and cabins. Metro has embraced a dynamic expansion plan, which is incorporated in the Plan Transantiago. According to the expansion plan, it is expected that by the end of 2018, the railway network will be composed of seven interconnected lines totaling approximately 140 kilometers and 136 stations.
Metro’s revenues derive mainly from ticket sales, leasing advertising and commercial space, leasing and selling real estate, vending machines and providing telecommunication services. Due to large asset depreciation costs, the company historically has not recorded profits and therefore has not made contributions to the Chilean Treasury.
Capitalization of Public Companies
The capitalization of a public company must be authorized by Congress.
Codelco, as the main public company in Chile, is involved in a significant number of investment projects. In this regard, the capitalization law for Codelco, approved by Congress on October 24, 2014, is expected to support its business and development plan. The capitalization consists of Treasury transfers to Codelco of US$4.0 billion between 2014 and 2018, which will include retained profits of US$1.0 billion. The capitalization is gradual, and subject to making the improvements contemplated in Codelco’s business and development plan. Additionally, it authorizes the Republic of Chile to fund its contributions with the proceeds of debt incurred in Chile or abroad, up to US$3.0 billion. In December 2014, the government issued US$1.5 billion of external bonds. On October 28, 2015, the government contributed US$600 million to Codelco’s capital.
On November 8, 2014, Law No. 20,792 was published in the Official Gazette, authorizing Banco Estado’s capitalization. The capitalization law allocates US$450 million to the direct capitalization of Banco Estado and US$50 million to the Small Enterprise Guarantee Fund (Fondo de Garantía para Pequeños Empresarios, or FOGAPE), a fund administered by Banco Estado that grants partial financial guarantees to small businesses. As of December 31, 2015 the total amount authorized has been contributed.
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External Debt
Chile’s total public sector external debt was US$5.3 billion as of December 31, 2011, US$6.1 billion as of December 31, 2012, US$5.2 billion as of December 31, 2013, US$6.5 billion as of December 31, 2014 and US$7.8 billion as of December 31, 2015. The ratio of public sector external debt to GDP stood at 2.3% in 2011, 2.3% in 2012, 2.0% in 2013, 2.7% in 2014 and 3.5% as of December 31, 2015. Chile is current on all its obligations to the IMF and other multilateral organizations.
The following table sets forth the outstanding amount of public sector external debt by creditor as of the dates indicated:
Public Sector External Debt, By Creditor
(in millions of US$)
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| IDB | US$ 602.0 | US$ 562.9 | US$ 523.7 | US$ 478.6 | US$ 412.6 | |||||||||||||||
| IBRD (World Bank) | 125.9 | 111.9 | 98.2 | 96.9 | 100.7 | |||||||||||||||
| Bonds | 3,668.6 | 5,221.1 | 4,307.2 | 5,712.7 | 7,027.6 | |||||||||||||||
| IDA (World Bank) | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
| Others | 884.7 | 238.7 | 230.5 | 256.1 | 236.3 | |||||||||||||||
| Total | US$ 5,280.5 | US$ 6,134.6 | US$ 5,159.6 | US$ 6,544.3 | US$ 7,777.2 | |||||||||||||||
Source: Chilean Budget Office.
The following table sets forth public sector external debt by currency as of the dates indicated:
Public Sector External Debt, by Currency
(in millions of US$)
| 2014 | 2015 | |||||||
| United States Dollar | US$ 4,784.6 | US$ 4,703.7 | ||||||
| Euro | 1,044.1 | 2,459.1 | ||||||
| Chilean Pesos | 715.1 | 614.1 | ||||||
| Other | 0.5 | 0.4 | ||||||
| Total | US$ 6,544.3 | US$ 7,777.2 | ||||||
Source: Chilean Budget Office.
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The following table sets forth the amortization of public sector external debt by category for the periods indicated:
Amortization of Gross Total Consolidated Public Sector External Debt(1)
(in millions of US$)
| Outstanding as of December 31, 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 to Final Maturity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Central Government: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Multilateral organizations | 513 | 94 | 94 | 72 | 64 | 53 | 41 | 95 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chilean Treasury bills | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chilean Treasury bonds | 7,028 | — | — | — | — | 1,444 | 656 | 4,928 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bilateral and Other creditors | 236 | 23 | 27 | 27 | 25 | 26 | 21 | 86 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 7,777 | 117 | 121 | 100 | 90 | 1,522 | 718 | 5,109 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chilean Central Bank: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Multilateral organizations | 82 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 82 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bilateral creditors | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial banks | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other creditors | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonds | 511 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 511 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SDR allocations (IMF)(2) | 1,133 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1,133 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 1,726 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1,726 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Banco Estado: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Multilateral organizations | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bilateral creditors | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial banks | 748.0 | 748.0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Banco Estado NY | 717.0 | 394.0 | 145.0 | 40.0 | — | — | 138.0 | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subtotal | 1,465.0 | 1,142.0 | 145.0 | 40.0 | — | — | 138.0 | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other creditors | 2,210.0 | — | 695.0 | 199.0 | — | 758.0 | — | 558.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 3,675.0 | 1,142.0 | 840.0 | 239.0 | — | 758.0 | 138.0 | 558.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Non-financial public enterprises: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Multilateral organizations | 208.0 | 32.0 | 32.0 | 32.0 | 32.0 | 32.0 | 32.0 | 16.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bilateral creditors | 2,529.0 | 874.0 | 24.0 | 1,224.0 | 407.0 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial banks | 866.9 | 186.1 | 341.5 | 193.8 | 72.8 | 68.3 | 4.3 | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bonds | 14,075.0 | — | — | 217.1 | 900.0 | 1,500.0 | 1,650.0 | 9,807.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other creditors | 179.6 | 88.5 | 52.7 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 21.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 17,858.4 | 1,180.6 | 450.2 | 1,671.1 | 1,416.0 | 1,604.5 | 1,690.5 | 9,845.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Gross Public Sector External Debt | 31,036.4 | 2,439.6 | 1,411.2 | 2,010.1 | 1,506.0 | 3,617.5 | 2,546.5 | 17,238.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (1) | Includes medium- and long-term external debt. |
| (2) | Special Drawing Rights (Derechos Especiales de Giro) are an international asset reserve created by the IMF. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank, Chilean Budget Office, Banco Estado and Chilean Treasury.
Private Sector External Debt Guaranteed by the Central Government
As a consequence of the 1982-1983 financial crisis and the subsequent privatization of public sector enterprises with outstanding external debt, the central government is the guarantor of a small portion of the private sector’s external debt. It is the government’s policy not to guarantee new private sector obligations. The contingent liabilities of private sector guarantees of the government fell steadily between 1999 and 2004, and ended in 2005.
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Total Consolidated Public and Private Sector External Debt
The following table sets forth approximate outstanding amounts of Chile’s public and private sector external debt as of the dates indicated:
Total Consolidated Public and Private Sector External Debt
(in millions of US$ except ratios and as noted)
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Medium- and long-term debt | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Public sector(1) | US$ 19,347 | US$ 23,346 | US$ 25,836 | US$29,217 | US$30,137 | |||||||||||||||
| Private sector | US$ 60,525 | US$ 73,213 | US$ 89,418 | US$ 101,243 | US$103,051 | |||||||||||||||
| Total medium- and long-term debt | US$ 79,872 | US$ 97,558 | US$ 115,254 | US$ 130,460 | US$ 133,188 | |||||||||||||||
| Short-term debt | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Public sector(1) | US$ 1,744 | US$ 1,896 | US$ 1,047 | US$ 877 | US$ 439 | |||||||||||||||
| Private sector | US$ 17,690 | US$ 20,992 | US$ 18,249 | US$ 18,315 | 22,030 | |||||||||||||||
| Total short-term debt | US$ 19,434 | US$ 22,888 | US$ 19,296 | US$ 19,192 | US$ 22,468 | |||||||||||||||
| Total short-, medium and long-term debt | US$ 99,306 | US$ 120,446 | US$ 134,550 | US$ 149,652 | US$ 155,656 | |||||||||||||||
| Use of IMF credit | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| Total public(1) and private external debt, less reserves (in billions of U.S. dollars) | US$ 57.3 | US$ 78.8 | US$ 93.5 | US$ 109.2 | US$117.0 | |||||||||||||||
| Total public(1) and private external debt/GDP | 42.7 | % | 44.7 | % | 51.4 | % | 61.6 | % | 70.1 | % | ||||||||||
| Total public(1) and private external debt/exports(2) | 105.0 | % | 133.6 | % | 151.6 | % | 174.1 | % | 216.2 | % | ||||||||||
| (1) | Includes central government, Chilean Central Bank and public enterprises as well as publicly guaranteed private debt. |
| (2) | Exports include goods and services. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
Central Government External Bonds
As of December 31, 2015, Chile had the following global bonds outstanding:
| · | 3.875% US$829,467,000 Notes due August 5, 2020; |
| · | 5.5% Ps.434,345,000,000 Notes due August 5, 2020; |
| · | 3.25% US$656,027,000 Notes due September 14, 2021; |
| · | 2.25% US$750,000,000 Notes due October 30, 2022; |
| · | 1.625% €1,240,000,000 Notes due January 30, 2025; |
| · | 3.125% US$758,262,000 Notes due March 27, 2025; |
| · | 1.875% €950,000,000 Notes due May 27, 2030; and |
| · | 3.625% US$750,000,000 Notes due October 30, 2042. |
| D-98 |
In 2016, Chile issued the following global bonds:
| · | 1.75% €1,200,000 Notes due January 20, 2026; and |
| · | 3.125% US$1,349,122,000 Notes due January 21, 2026. |
Central Government Internal Bonds
In 2003, the Chilean Treasury issued the approximate equivalent of US$363 million long-term debt securities in UF with a 20-year term. This issuance was part of the government financing plan and was the first issue under a program designed to develop the domestic financial market. Since 2010, the government’s local bond issuances have primarily been intended to further develop the domestic market. The following table reflects the Chilean Treasury’s bond issuances since 2003:
Chilean Treasury Bond Issuances in the Local Market
(in millions of US$)(1)
| As of December 31, | BTP-5(2) | BTP-7(3) | BTP-10(4) | BTP-20(5) | BTP-30(6) | BTU-5(7) | BTU-7(8) | BTU-10(9) | BTU-20(10) | BTU-30(11) | Total | % of GDP | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 363 | — | 363 | 0.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 773 | — | 773 | 0.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 385 | 385 | — | 769 | 0.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | — | — | 343 | — | — | — | — | — | 401 | — | 743 | 0.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | — | — | 318 | — | — | — | — | — | 702 | 583 | 1,603 | 1.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 336 | — | 474 | — | — | 558 | — | 1,034 | 411 | 414 | 3,227 | 1.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | — | — | 801 | — | — | 641 | 1,099 | 1,558 | 1,374 | 1,374 | 6,847 | 2.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | — | 863 | 863 | — | — | 855 | 770 | 770 | 727 | 727 | 5,574 | 2.4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | — | — | 521 | 519 | — | 483 | 229 | 455 | 516 | 638 | 3,361 | 1.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013 | — | — | 501 | 503 | 403 | — | — | 1,333 | 654 | 561 | 3,955 | 1.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | 247 | — | 387 | 519 | 280 | — | — | 662 | 602 | 466 | 3,163 | 1.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | — | — | 1,067 | 773 | 707 | 924 | — | 1,123 | 924 | 743 | 6,261 | 2.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (1) | Using the exchange rate at December 31 of the applicable year. |
| (2) | Peso-denominated internal bonds with a term of 5 years |
| (3) | Peso-denominated internal bonds with a term of 7 years. |
| (4) | Peso-denominated internal bonds with a term of 10 years. |
| (5) | Peso-denominated internal bonds with a term of 20 years. |
| (6) | Peso-denominated internal bonds with a term of 30 years. |
| (7) | UF-denominated bonds with a term of 5 years. |
| (8) | UF-denominated bonds with a term of 7 years. |
| (9) | UF-denominated bonds with a term of 10 years. |
| (10) | UF-denominated bonds with a term of 20 years. |
| (11) | UF-denominated bonds with a term of 30 years. |
Source: Ministry of Finance.
Debt Service and Debt Restructuring
Chile has a long-standing tradition of prompt service of its external debt obligations, which was interrupted only in the 1930s. The regional debt crisis, which started in 1982, resulted in growing unwillingness on the part of foreign commercial banks to lend to Latin American borrowers generally. Reduced new lending forced Chile to seek the rescheduling of certain obligations to commercial banks due in 1983 and 1984 and to obtain new loans from banks. Chile agreed to further reschedulings with the international banking community in 1985 and 1987, which provided for the rescheduling of the remaining medium-term commercial bank loan amounts outstanding in 1983 to the Chilean public and private financial sectors. Despite the need to enter into these rescheduling agreements, Chile did not fall into arrears in respect of principal or interest payments during this period.
In an effort to reduce its public sector external debt burden, Chile carried out two substantial cash buyback operations during the second half of the 1980s. In 1985, the Chilean authorities promulgated a debt conversion program (Chapters XVIII and XIX of the Central Bank’s International Exchange Norms), which permitted foreign investors to exchange Chilean external debt issued by Chilean financial institutions and Chilean public sector companies for equity interests in Chilean companies. From its initiation in 1985 until its discontinuation in the mid-1990s, this debt conversion program, together with other debt reduction measures, resulted in debt reduction of more than US$11.5 billion.
| D-99 |
Beginning in 1995, Chile began the process of prepaying its public sector debt rescheduled in the 1980s and new debt borrowed at that time, together with debt incurred under IMF and World Bank programs.
Between 1989 and 2008, the central government serviced the debt held with the Chilean Central Bank, denominated in UF and in dollars. Until 1994, payments were generally limited to a portion of accrued interest. The debt stock increased by US$1.2 billion between 1989 and 1994, due to the capitalization of semiannual interest. From 1995 until 1999, the central government amortized capital by US$1.6 billion, with a debt stock reduction of US$956 million.
In 2007, the central government prepaid the last notes in dollars originally payable in 2013 and 2014 and, in 2008, repaid the debt stock denominated in UF.
In 2014, the central government prepaid US$170,533,000 of the 3.875% Notes due August 5, 2020 and US$343,973,000 of the 5.5% Notes due September 14, 2021.
In 2016, the central government prepaid US$89,623,000 of the 3.875% Notes due August 5, 2020; US$94,823,000 of the 3.25% Notes due September 21, 2021; US$115,881,000 of the 3.25% Notes due October 30, 2022 and US$301,869,000 of the 3.125% Notes due March 27, 2025.
Debt Record
Chile has regularly met all principal and interest obligations on its external debt for over 50 years.
| D-100 |
Total Consolidated Internal and External Debt of Non-Financial Public Enterprises
The following tables set forth the total domestic and external debt of non-financial public enterprises for the periods indicated:
Debt and Assets of Non-Financial Public Enterprises(1)
Consolidated (in millions of pesos of each year)
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total financial debt | 8,131,773 | 9,026,812 | 10,532,974 | 13,430,636 | 16,071,153 | |||||||||||||||
| Financial debt, excluding debts owed to central government | 8,131,700 | 9,026,812 | 10,532,974 | 13,430,636 | 16,071,153 | |||||||||||||||
| Short-term(2) | 1,269,801 | 1,181,417 | 1,127,000 | 1,100,174 | 1,342,042 | |||||||||||||||
| Long-term(3) | 6,861,898 | 7,845,395 | 9,405,974 | 12,330,462 | 14,729,110 | |||||||||||||||
| Financial debt with central government(4) | 74 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| Financial assets(5) | 1,301,721 | 1,255,156 | 1,146,806 | 1,608,081 | 1,838,036 | |||||||||||||||
| Net financial debt | 6,830,052 | 7,771,656 | 9,386,168 | 11,822,555 | 14,233,117 | |||||||||||||||
| Excluding central government | 6,829,978 | 7,771,656 | 9,386,168 | 11,822,555 | 14,233,117 | |||||||||||||||
| (1) | Includes Codelco, Enami, ENAP, Metro, EFE, Astilleros y Maestranzas de la Armada (Asmar), Empresa Nacional de Aeronautica (Enaer), Casa de Moneda de Chile, Zofri S.A. and Correos de Chile; excludes Banco Estado and the Chilean Central Bank. |
| (2) | Includes short-term obligations with banks and financial institutions and current amounts due under long-term obligations, obligations with the public (bonds) and current amounts due to long-term credit providers. |
| (3) | Includes long-term obligations with banks and financial institutions, obligations with the public (bonds) and obligations owed to long-term credit providers. |
| (4) | Excludes tax on income and deferred taxes. |
| (5) | Includes cash, term deposits, net negotiable securities, financial investments in repurchase agreements. |
Source: Ministry of Finance.
Net Consolidated Debt of the Chilean Central Bank and Central Government (as a % of GDP)
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Net Consolidated Debt | (10.6 | ) | (7.9 | ) | (7.9 | ) | (7.5 | ) | (8.1 | ) | ||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank, Chilean Budget Office and Comptroller General of the Republic.
| D-101 |
Net Debt of Chilean Central Bank
(in millions of pesos of each year)
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| Liabilities | 20,604,170 | 19,749,320 | 18,592,976 | 20,193,733 | 20,336,735 | |||||||||||||||
| Chilean Central Bank Notes and Bonds(1) | 13,186,136 | 12,905,055 | 13,033,022 | 12,908,185 | 13,494,386 | |||||||||||||||
| Fiscal Deposits | 795,640 | 626,202 | 313,057 | 1,226,599 | 419,683 | |||||||||||||||
| Others(2) | 6,622,394 | 6,218,063 | 5,246,896 | 6,058,949 | 6,422,667 | |||||||||||||||
| Assets without subordinated debt | 22,982,333 | 21,169,733 | 21,669,897 | 24,744,603 | 27,530,130 | |||||||||||||||
| Net International Reserves (in US$ million) | 41,979 | 41,649 | 41,094 | 40,447 | 38,643 | |||||||||||||||
| Others(3) | 1,091,790 | 1,236,299 | 146,676 | 177,943 | 196,702 | |||||||||||||||
| Total Net Debt without subordinated debt(1)(2) | (2,378,163 | ) | (1,420,413 | ) | (3,076,921 | ) | (4,550,870 | ) | (7,193,395 | ) | ||||||||||
| (1) | Includes various notes and bonds of the Chilean Central Bank such as the Chilean Central Bank discountable promissory notes (PDBC), Chilean Central Bank indexed promissory notes (PRBC), Chilean Central Bank bonds in Chilean pesos (BCP), Chilean Central Bank bonds in UF (BCU), Chilean Central Bank bonds in U.S. dollars (BCD) and other instruments. |
| (2) | Includes other deposits and obligations, reciprocal agreements and other securities. |
| (3) | Includes net internal credit, excluding fiscal transfers, subordinated debt, SINAP obligations and popular capitalism, other securities from abroad, contributions to international organizations and other adjusted domestic securities. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
Central Government Total Net Debt
(in millions of pesos of each year except as indicated)
| As of December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |||||||||||||
| Debt in pesos | Ps.13,015,967 | Ps.15,285,636 | Ps.18,681,365 | Ps.22,523,188 | ||||||||||||
| External Debt | 434,345 | 434,345 | 434,345 | 467,148 | ||||||||||||
| Domestic Debt | 12,581,622 | 14,851,291 | 18,247,020 | 22,059,040 | ||||||||||||
| Assets in pesos | 9,298,488 | 9,000,392 | 9,151,137 | 10,782,887 | ||||||||||||
| Assets in pesos, without public enterprises(1) | 9,298,488 | 9,000,392 | 9,151,137 | 10,778,887 | ||||||||||||
| Chilean Central Bank Deposits | 158,330 | 200,952 | 1,117,977 | 296,689 | ||||||||||||
| Financial debt of public enterprises with the Central government | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | ||||||||||||
| Net debt in pesos(2) | Ps.3,717,479 | Ps.6,285,244 | Ps.9,530,228 | Ps.11,740,301 | ||||||||||||
| Debt in U.S. dollars (in US$ million) | US$ 5,227 | US$ 4,330 | US$ 5,829 | US$ 7,121 | ||||||||||||
| Treasury Bills with the Chilean Central Bank (in US$ million) | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| External Debt (in US$ million) | 5,227 | 4,330 | 5,829 | 7,121 | ||||||||||||
| Assets in U.S. dollars, Chilean Central Bank Deposits(3) (in US$ million) | 31,382 | 31,133 | 32,162 | 31,477 | ||||||||||||
| Net debt in U.S. dollars (in US$ million) | US$ (26,155 | ) | US$ (26,803 | ) | US$ (26,333) | US$ (24,356 | ) | |||||||||
| Total Financial Debt(4) | Ps.15,517,618 | Ps.17,553,695 | Ps.22,221,911 | Ps.27,560,190 | ||||||||||||
| Total Financial Assets(5) | 24,317,827 | 25,306,676 | 28,685,723 | 33,047,936 | ||||||||||||
| Total Net Financial Debt | Ps.(8,800,209 | ) | Ps.(7,752,981 | ) | Ps.(6,463,812) | Ps.(5,487,747 | ) | |||||||||
| (1) | Does not include assets of the old scholarship system. |
| (2) | Includes CORFO. |
| (3) | Includes Oil Stabilization Fund, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Infrastructure Fund and governmental term deposits. |
| (4) | Debt in pesos plus debt in U.S. dollars. |
| (5) | Assets in pesos plus assets in U.S. dollars. |
Source: Chilean Central Bank, Chilean Budget Office and Comptroller General of the Republic.
| D-102 |
Public Debt Statistics
Public Debt Report
Since 2006, the Ministry of Finance has published quarterly reports on public debt records, containing data on the assets and liabilities of the central government, the Chilean Central Bank and other relevant public institutions.
Central Government Indebtedness
The most widely used international indicator of governmental liabilities is the item called “general government indebtedness,” which includes both “central government liabilities” and “local government authorized liabilities.” In Chile, local governments are not authorized to incur any financial indebtedness; therefore, the general and central government liabilities are treated as one item. As of December 31, 2015, central government liabilities represented 17.5% of GDP.
The level of general government liabilities is not an adequate indicator of Chile’s financial soundness, because it does not take account of the government’s financial assets. “Central government net indebtedness” is used to more accurately measure the government’s financial position, by showing the difference between public debt and financial assets, that is, deposits in current accounts, time deposits and fixed income investments. Equity investments and loans granted by the central government are disregarded, because it is very difficult to have an accurate economic valuation of them. Net central government indebtedness totaled (8.6)% of GDP as of December 31, 2011, and (3.5)% of GDP as of December 31, 2015. This increase is largely due to the growth in the gross public debt, which rose from 11.1% of GDP in 2011 to 17.5% of GDP in 2015, in spite of growth in the government’s financial assets, which rose from 19.8% of GDP in 2011 to 21.0% of GDP in 2015.
Chilean Central Bank Debt and Consolidated Debt
The Chilean Central Bank has been an autonomous institution since 1989. It has not engaged in quasi-fiscal transactions since that date. During the financial crisis experienced in Chile in 1983 and 1984, the Chilean Central Bank engaged in a series of quasi-fiscal actions in order to rescue the financial system. As a result, important changes in the level and composition of its assets and liabilities occurred, significantly affecting its current levels of global indebtedness.
The main liabilities of the Chilean Central Bank are its guarantees of public deposits and the securities issued by the bank itself. The Chilean Central Bank’s main assets are the international reserves of the public with the bank, and the notes delivered to it by the government in connection with the financial crisis of 1983. As of December 31, 2008, the government had no debt owing to the Chilean Central Bank. See “Debt Service and Debt Restructuring.”
As of December 31, 2015, the assets of the Chilean Central Bank exceeded its liabilities, resulting in net indebtedness equivalent to (4.6)% of GDP. In 2013 and 2014, the Chilean Central Bank had net indebtedness of 2.2% and 3.1% of GDP, respectively. The consolidated indebtedness, including public sector liabilities and Chilean Central Bank debt, is considered a significant macroeconomic indicator. This debt interacts with the economy in two ways: (i) it reflects payment risk, which is minimal and explains the minor systemic risk, low domestic interest rates and high liquidity and growth that have tended to characterize the Chilean system; and (ii) in order to meet its interest payment obligations, resources must be used that could otherwise be used for public investment financing. The net consolidated debt of the central government and the Chilean Central Bank, in the aggregate, as of December 31, 2015 represented (8.1)% of GDP compared to (7.5)% as of December 31, 2014 and (7.9)% as of December 31, 2013.
Other Assets and Liabilities
The public debt report also discloses information about the net indebtedness of public enterprises and social security debt, which is not consolidated with the rest of the public debt for economic and statistical reasons.
| D-103 |
The financial indebtedness of state-owned companies, excluding indebtedness owed to the Republic of Chile, totaled approximately 10.2% of GDP as of December 31, 2015, compared to 9.1% of GDP as of December 31, 2014 and 7.7% as of December 31, 2013. Since these companies are managed under a policy of public interdependence, they are responsible for meeting their financial liabilities using their own assets, revenues and net worth. Only in exceptional circumstances and upon authorization provided by law, will the state guarantee such debt where a public company’s assets are not sufficient to cover its liabilities. As of December 31, 2015, the total amount of public guarantees totaled 1.1% of GDP, as compared with 1.2% of GDP in 2014 and 1.3% in 2013.
Under the social security system, Chile maintains certain liabilities to workers who migrated from the state-administered pension system to the privately administered system. The government pays this debt directly to the individual pension fund account at the time the worker retires. The government estimates that this liability equals 1.6% of GDP, as of December 31, 2015. This debt will be paid progressively as the workers who contributed to the old pension system retire. See “Monetary and Financial System—Pension Funds and the Chilean Pension System.”
TABLES AND SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
External Medium- and Long-Term Direct Debt of the Central Government
| Currency of Borrowing | Interest Rate | Year Issued | Year of Maturity | Principal Amount Outstanding as of December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | ||||||||||
| Chilean Pesos | Fixed 5.5% | 2010 | 2020 | 384.956 | ||||||||||
| Chilean Pesos | Fixed 5.5% | 2011 | 2020 | 229.098 | ||||||||||
| CRS | Fixed 0.75% | 1972 | 2022 | 0.389 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 1.625% | 2014 | 2025 | 1,353.269 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 1.875% | 2015 | 2030 | 1,036.778 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 0.75% | 2002 | 2042 | 7.415 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 0.75% | 2004 | 2041 | 6.783 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 0.75% | 2007 | 2047 | 12.803 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 0.75% | 2008 | 2048 | 5.457 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 2% | 1990 | 2022 | 0.056 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 2% | 1990 | 2023 | 0.072 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 2% | 1990 | 2023 | 0.161 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 2% | 1990 | 2023 | 0.392 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 2% | 1990 | 2023 | 0.601 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 2% | 1991 | 2021 | 4.567 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 2% | 1993 | 2023 | 3.549 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 2% | 1993 | 2023 | 5.505 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 2% | 1994 | 2024 | 3.676 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 2% | 1996 | 2026 | 7.488 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 5.4% | 2007 | 2017 | 3.988 | ||||||||||
| Euro | Fixed 5.49% | 2008 | 2018 | 6.548 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2033 | 1.624 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2033 | 2.378 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2034 | 0.025 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2034 | 0.36 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2034 | 0.777 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2034 | 1.658 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2035 | 0.383 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2035 | 0.625 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2035 | 0.849 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2035 | 1.940 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2036 | 0.006 | ||||||||||
| D-104 |
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2036 | 0.051 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2036 | 0.278 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2036 | 0.463 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2037 | 0.003 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2037 | 0.019 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2038 | 0.026 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.15% | 1995 | 2038 | 0.253 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1993 | 2025 | 1.715 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1993 | 2028 | 0.335 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1994 | 2026 | 0.132 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1994 | 2026 | 0.292 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1994 | 2026 | 0.618 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1994 | 2026 | 1.519 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1994 | 2027 | 0.073 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1994 | 2027 | 0.197 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1995 | 2025 | 0.494 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1995 | 2025 | 0.588 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.5% | 1997 | 2027 | 0.485 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2023 | 6.312 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2024 | 0.042 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2024 | 0.097 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2024 | 0.263 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2024 | 4.187 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2025 | 0.046 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2025 | 0.142 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2025 | 0.183 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2025 | 0.993 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2025 | 3.044 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2026 | 0.090 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2026 | 0.110 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2026 | 0.197 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2026 | 1.198 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2026 | 2.362 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2026 | 3.496 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2026 | 5.165 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2027 | 0.024 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2027 | 0.054 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2027 | 0.183 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 2.25% | 2012 | 2022 | 740.685 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 3.125% | 2014 | 2025 | 1,060.131 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 3.625% | 2012 | 2042 | 737.235 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2024 | 0.071 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2026 | 0.132 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 0.96% | 1993 | 2027 | 0.550 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 1.25% | 1993 | 2024 | 0.035 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 1.75% | 1992 | 2016 | 0.014 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 2.27% | 2008 | 2020 | 27.546 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 2.87% | 2009 | 2021 | 44.587 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 3.25% | 2011 | 2021 | 656.027 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 3.875% | 2010 | 2020 | 829.467 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Fixed 3.9% | 2013 | 2028 | 47.890 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID F.U. USD | 2001 | 2021 | 31.643 |
| D-105 |
| United States Dollars | Variable BID F.U. USD | 2001 | 2026 | 3.670 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID F.U. USD | 2001 | 2026 | 17.277 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID F.U. USD | 2001 | 2026 | 159.417 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID F.U. USD | 2002 | 2022 | 6.463 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID F.U. USD | 2006 | 2021 | 24.225 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID F.U. USD | 2007 | 2016 | 0.026 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID F.U. USD | 2007 | 2021 | 12.632 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID F.U. USD | 2011 | 2020 | 4.590 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID F.U. USD | 2011 | 2028 | 6.890 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2004 | 2019 | 0.244 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2004 | 2019 | 2.271 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2004 | 2023 | 4.061 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2004 | 2023 | 4.228 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2004 | 2023 | 20.091 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2005 | 2024 | 7.286 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2005 | 2025 | 1.593 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2005 | 2025 | 2.259 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2006 | 2016 | 5.366 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2006 | 2025 | 2.974 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2007 | 2021 | 16.447 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2007 | 2021 | 20.414 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2008 | 2017 | 5.053 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2008 | 2018 | 40.607 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2008 | 2027 | 8.889 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2011 | 2017 | 1.087 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BID TBL (LIBOR Base Rate) | 2013 | 2017 | 2.933 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BIRF Fixed Spread (FSL-USD) | 2002 | 2017 | 3.485 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BIRF Fixed Spread (FSL-USD) | 2005 | 2020 | 1.133 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BIRF Fixed Spread (FSL-USD) | 2005 | 2020 | 13.572 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BIRF Fixed Spread (FSL-USD) | 2005 | 2023 | 13.676 |
| D-106 |
| United States Dollars | Variable BIRF Fixed Spread (FSL-USD) | 2007 | 2022 | 5.893 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BIRF Fixed Spread (FSL-USD) | 2007 | 2022 | 19.500 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BIRF Fixed Spread (FSL-USD) | 2008 | 2017 | 9.952 | ||||||||||
| United States Dollars | Variable BIRF Fixed Spread (FSL-USD) | 2013 | 2020 | 33.440 | ||||||||||
| Total | US$ 7,777.235 |
External Guaranteed Medium- and Long-Term Direct Debt of
State Entities Indirect Debt of the Government
| Debtor | Currency of Borrowing | Interest Rate | Year Issued | Year of Maturity | Principal Amount Outstanding as of December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | |||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | LIBOR + 0.20% | 2001 | 2016 | US$ 28.1 | |||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | LIBOR + 0.25% | 2001 | 2016 | 5.9 | |||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | LIBOR + 0.20% | 2007 | 2017 | 60.0 | |||||||||||||
| Total | US$ 94.0 | |||||||||||||||||
External Debt of State Entities without Guarantee by the Central Government
| Debtor | Currency of Borrowing | Interest Rate | Year Issued | Year of Maturity | Principal Amount Outstanding as of December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | |||||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 5.63 | % | 2005 | 2035 | US$ 500.00 | ||||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | UF | 4.00 | % | 2005 | 2025 | 208.50 | ||||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 6.15 | % | 2006 | 2036 | 500.00 | ||||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 7.50 | % | 2009 | 2019 | 600.00 | ||||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 3.75 | % | 2010 | 2020 | 1,000.00 | ||||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 3.88 | % | 2011 | 2021 | 1,150.00 | ||||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 3.00 | % | 2012 | 2022 | 1,250.00 | ||||||||||||||||
| D-107 |
| CODELCO | US$ | 4.25 | % | 2012 | 2042 | 750.00 | ||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 4.50 | % | 2013 | 2023 | 750.00 | ||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 5.63 | % | 2013 | 2043 | 950.00 | ||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | EUR | 2.25 | % | 2014 | 2024 | 819.30 | ||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 4.88 | % | 2014 | 2044 | 980.00 | ||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 4.5 | % | 2015 | 2025 | 2,000.00 | ||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.60% | 2012 | 2016 | 100.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.50% | 2012 | 2016 | 250.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.60% | 2012 | 2016 | 250.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.50% | 2012 | 2016 | 250.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.65% | 2013 | 2018 | 300.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.62% | 2013 | 2018 | 300.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.55% | 2013 | 2019 | 84.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.45% | 2013 | 2022 | 208.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.63% | 2014 | 2018 | 300.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.63% | 2014 | 2018 | 300.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.62% | 2014 | 2019 | 95.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | LIBOR + 0.62% | 2014 | 2019 | 300.00 | |||||||||||||||
| CODELCO | US$ | 5.63 | % | 2005 | 2035 | 500.00 | ||||||||||||||
| EFE | US$ | LIBOR + 1.20% | 2006 | 2016 | 3.46 | |||||||||||||||
| EFE | US$ | 6.72 | % | 2009 | 2017 | 6.26 | ||||||||||||||
| EFE | US$ | 4.86 | % | 2006 | 2018 | 17.27 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | LIBOR + 0.65% | 2001 | 2016 | 48.75 | |||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | LIBOR + 0.20% | 2005 | 2017 | 10.05 | |||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 4.19 | % | 2006 | 2020 | 73.90 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 3.29 | % | 2006 | 2020 | 12.72 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 3.82 | % | 2006 | 2020 | 12.65 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 4.14 | % | 2006 | 2020 | 2.52 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 4.14 | % | 2009 | 2020 | 1.34 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 4.14 | % | 2009 | 2019 | 1.43 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 4.19 | % | 2009 | 2020 | 1.05 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 4.14 | % | 2009 | 2020 | 4.11 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 3.96 | % | 2010 | 2020 | 1.84 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | LIBOR + 1.40% | 2011 | 2017 | 30.00 | |||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 3.86 | % | 2010 | 2020 | 3.99 | ||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | LIBOR + 1.65% | 2012 | 2017 | 60.00 | |||||||||||||||
| Metro S.A. | US$ | 3.75 | % | 2014 | 2024 | 500.00 | ||||||||||||||
| ENAP | ARS | 3.85 | % | 2015 | 2016 | 20.80 | ||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | LIBOR + 1.25% | 2010 | 2017 | 33.30 | |||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | 6.25 | % | 2009 | 2019 | 300.00 | ||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | 5.25 | % | 2010 | 2020 | 500.00 | ||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | 4.75 | % | 2011 | 2021 | 500.00 | ||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | 4.07 | % | 2010 | 2021 | 39.60 | ||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | LIBOR + 1.375% | 2005 | 2020 | 196.50 | |||||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | LIBOR + 1.375% | 2004 | 2016 | 2.10 | |||||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | LIBOR + 1.375% | 2004 | 2016 | 0.90 | |||||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | 4.31 | % | 2004 | 2017 | 8.20 | ||||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | LIBOR + 1.5% | 2013 | 2018 | 200.00 | |||||||||||||||||
| ENAP | CHF$ | 2.875 | % | 2013 | 2018 | 217.10 | ||||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | 4.375 | % | 2014 | 2024 | 600.00 | ||||||||||||||||
| ENAP | US$ | 8.00 | % | 2014 | 2017 | 92.00 | ||||||||||||||||
| Others(1) | 5,401 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | US$ 23,097.64 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| (1) | This includes Banco Estado and Chilean Central Bank. |
Internal Medium and Long Term Debt of the Central Government
| Title | Interest Rate | Year of Maturity | Principal Amount Outstanding as of December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | |||||||||||
| Debt of CORFO | 0 | 0 | US$ 0 | |||||||||||
| Chilean Treasury(1) | Various | Various | 31,185.391 | |||||||||||
| Total | US$ 31,185.391 | |||||||||||||
| (1) | Does not include borrowing among public entities. |
| D-108 |
Internal Medium- and Long-Term Debt of Chilean Central Bank
| Title | Interest Rate | Year of Maturity | Amortization or Sinking Fund Provision | Principal Amount Outstanding as of December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | ||||||||
| Indexed promissory notes payable in coupons (PRC) | Various | Various | None | US$ 49.0 | ||||||||
| Chilean Central Bank discountable promissory notes (PDBC) | Various | Various | None | 1,272.4 | ||||||||
| Indexed coupons (CERO) in indexed units UF | Various | Various | None | 157.0 | ||||||||
| Chilean Central Bank bonds in Chilean pesos (BCP) | Various | Various | None | 5,709.6 | ||||||||
| Chilean Central Bank bonds in indexed units UF (BCU) | Various | Various | None | 11,566.7 | ||||||||
| Total | US$ 18,754.6 | |||||||||||
Source: Chilean Central Bank.
Internal Medium- and Long-Term Debt of the Chilean Public Sector(1)
| Title | Interest Rate | Year of Maturity | Amortization or Sinking Fund Provision | Principal Amount Outstanding as of December 31, 2015 (in millions of US$) | ||||||||
| Central Government(1) | Various | Various | None | US$ 31,185.9 | ||||||||
| Non-Financial Public Enterprises | Various | Various | None | 2,919.8 | ||||||||
| Central Bank | Various | Various | None | 18,754.6 | ||||||||
| Banco Estado | Various | Various | None | 4,123.8 | ||||||||
| Total Public Sector | US$ 56,984.1 | |||||||||||
(1) Does not include borrowing among public entities.
| D-109 |