Chile's finance minister announced on Monday US$ 600 million in additional stimulus to kick-start the top copper producer's sputtering economy, which has suffered from a downturn in mining and global trade tensions.
In an annual poll released last month, 83% of Chileans voted positively when asked “Are you in favor or against the proposal to nationalize copper?” — registering overwhelming support for a prospective reform that, while radical, remains relatively low on the list of campaign hot topics the November 17 presidential election.
Chile expects mining investment to reach 112 billion US dollars by 2021, Mining Minister Hernan de Solminihac announced this week. This includes the 27bn planned by Chile’s National Copper Corporation, Codelco. Overall the sum is 8% higher than the November forecast.
Chile cut its copper output forecast for the year to 5.53 million tons due to setbacks at certain mines, though production is still expected to jump from 2012 as a new deposit comes online, the mining ministry said this week.
Growth in Chile's export-dependent economy will slow to 4.6% this year due to softer copper prices, investment and domestic demand, the IMF said in a report posted on the central bank's website earlier this week. In April, the IMF projected the economy of the world's leading copper producer would expand by 4.9% in 2013.
Chile’s GDP expanded 5.6% in 2012 as a boom in the mining and real estate industries demand boosted investment and sparked an increase in consumer spending. The economy grew 5.7% in the fourth quarter from 2011, the central bank said in a report on its website.
The Chilean central bank raised its forecast for economic growth this year to between 4.75% and 5.25% (from 4% to 5%), adding that it expects GDP to expand 4% to 5% in 2013.
Chile is planning a 2013 budget with a tendency growth of 5% and an average long term basic copper price of 3.06 dollars the pound revealed finance minister Felipe Larraín together with Rosanna Costa, head of the Budget Office during a presentation before Congress.
Shale gas may be the solution to one of the most serious problems the Chilean mining industry is facing because of the very high energy prices due to limited supply.
Chile's economy grew a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in the third quarter from the second quarter of 2011, slowing from a downwardly revised 1.3% in the previous quarter.