MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile on the “right course”.

Chile is on the “right course”, said Enrique Iglesias president of the Interamerican Development Bank, IDB, in direct reference to the country's economy.

Mr. Iglesias who this week visited Santiago underlined the performance of the Chilean economy compared to the rest of the continent, but also admitted it "was legitimate" for citizens to have greater hopes of personal advancement.

The government of Socialist president Ricardo Lagos faced last week the first general strike since Chile recovered democracy in 1990, an event that was particularly violent with hundreds of arrested and extensive damage to property. The purpose of the stoppage was in demand of a more "human economic model" and respect for working contracts and conditions.

"One can see Chile is above the rest of the continent. Last year Latinamerica had a negative expansion of almost 1%, but Chile was above 2%. This year we're expecting a modest recovery of possibly 1 to 1,5% for the region and Chile will be reaching 3,5%", indicated Mr. Iglesias.

Nevertheless Mr. Iglesias insisted that more investment is needed and "Chile is doing precisely that", plus the diversification of exports with greater added value "generating more jobs, more expansion an objective we share with the Chilean private sector".

Mr. Iglesias said he was optimistic about 2004, "when we expect the region to expand between 3 and 4 per cent". Even when much depends on the recovery of the United States economy, "there are positive signs that should help us reach that goal".

"Even Europe and Japan are looking up, if the international situation continues to consolidate Latinamerica will have a good performance in 2004", concluded the IDB president.