Chile's Centro de Estudios Públicos (CEP) assessed Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz's three key goals for the José Antonio Kast administration: 4% growth, 6% unemployment, and fiscal balance by term's end. Researchers Rodrigo Vergara and Jorge Rodríguez call them ambitious yet feasible, citing past achievements.
One week before the new government's arrival, CEP released a detailed analysis by senior researcher and former Central Bank president Rodrigo Vergara, and former CFA president Jorge Rodríguez. It reviews challenges to hit 4% trend growth by administration's end, doubling Chile's current capacity amid structural deterioration rather than a mere negative cycle. No 'silver bullets' exist, but they note commitments to speed up investment permits and cut the corporate tax from 27% to 20-23%, as Chile ranks high in the OECD, deterring mobile capital. On unemployment, now around 8% and not at 6% since 2013, growth is key alongside pro-employment policies like the unified employment subsidy, Universal Nursery law, and replacing service-based severance with individual account-based indemnification. Fiscal balance targets structural balance under Chile's fiscal rule, addressing chronic deficits via current spending cuts—not public investment—especially with planned tax reductions. 'It is valuable that the Finance Minister sets concrete, measurable goals on fundamental variables... all have been achieved in past decades, placing them within the realm of the possible,' the authors conclude.
