CHILE: Piñera makes more promises

CHILE - In Brief 11 Dec 2019 by Robert Funk

As part of the continuing attempts to respond to the long list of political and social grievances that Chile’s protests have brought to the fore, President Sebastián Piñera announced a third package of reforms, this time aimed at combatting ‘abuse’. He promised to forgive debt and interest for existing student loans taken out under the CAE system (government backed student loans). In addition, Piñera plans to strengthen the office of the National Economic Prosecutor, providing it with additional powers and tools to look into anticompetitive behavior. Legal sanctions for white collar crime (ranging from tax evasion to price fixing, insider trading and collusion), whose perpetrators have in the past often got off with a slap on the wrist, will be increased. Additional protection will be put in place for whistleblowers, although more explicit anti-monopoly measures were absent in this announcement. Piñera also plans to increase consumer protection measures, which will include combatting abusive conditions in contracts, and ensuring that buyers have access to more information before purchasing. Often, for example, certain products, including financial products, come with built-in insurance plans from which they have the right to opt out (but consumers are often unaware of these charges). At the same time, on the financial front, the government hopes to promote competition among financial institutions, allowing borrowers to switch institutions. As always, evaluating the effectiveness of these measures will have to wait until they make their way through Congress. But on the face of things, there are two dimensions that immediately raise eyebrows. First, it seems odd that new...

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