Chile announced on Tuesday a $1.15 billion package of measures to spur lending to middle income families and small and medium-sized businesses and help shield them from global financial turmoil. President Michelle Bachelet said in a speech from the presidential palace the measures would stimulate access to credit for buyers of new and used homes and to owners of small and medium-sized businesses.
Chile wants to preserve the strong economic growth from recent years, when booming profits from the country's top export, copper, stuffed the treasury with billions of dollars in reserves and sovereign wealth funds. "I am announcing a series of measures aimed at reinforcing the central pillar of our country, the middle class, because we all know that when credit is restricted, those most affected are the medium and small companies and families with medium income levels who seek to buy homes," Bachelet said.
Some Chileans have complained the government's austere policies meant it was not sharing the wealth, but Bachelet stood behind those sober savings from the past, saying they made it possible for subsidies today.