Unionized copper mine workers in Chile asked to be included in a dialogue between companies and the government to address the exploding coronavirus crisis in the world´s top producer of the red metal.
The Chilean central bank said on Wednesday that the economy of the world’s top copper producer would contract between 5.5% and 7.5% in 2020, taking it to the lowest levels since the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s.
Chile’s government reached a deal with opposition lawmakers for a US$ 12 billion stimulus package over the weekend as infections hit a record and the health minister quit.
Chile´s government said on Monday it would extend a state of catastrophe in place since mid-March by 90 days as cases of coronavirus in the country have surged.
Chilean copper miners' unions called on Sunday for a re-evaluation of the operational continuity plans of the country's biggest miners during what they said was an alarming increase in coronavirus cases among workers.
Chile's health minister resigned on Saturday amid controversy over the country's official coronavirus death toll, as the pandemic hits the nation hard despite quarantine measures in the capital for more than a month. The departure of Jaime Mañalich was announced by President Sebastian Piñera.
Chile registered its worst daily figures for coronavirus fatalities on Friday, with 222 deaths and more than 6,700 new infections in the previous 24-hours, authorities said.
Chile’s women and gender minister, a great-niece of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet, has resigned after just a month following a furious backlash to her appointment and a string of missteps in office.
Chile revised its death toll linked to the novel coronavirus outbreak sharply higher on Sunday, adding fatalities from databases that previously had not been included.
Chilean consumer prices fell 0.1% in May, the government’s statistics agency INE said on Friday, as costs of many goods and services stagnated amid the growing coronavirus outbreak in the country.