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Overview

Chile’s economy made significant progress in resolving macroeconomic imbalances accumulated in recent years. Domestic demand continued to adjust, and inflation waned, although it remains above target. Growth, which averaged just 2 percent in the six years before the pandemic, would need to accelerate for progress.

Boosting productivity growth, which has been declining for decades, will be vital for creating well-paid formal jobs and export diversification. This requires efforts to reduce regulatory barriers, foster technology adoption, promote competition, enhance education quality and managerial capabilities, and increase female labor force participation.

Real GDP contracted 1 percent year on year in the first semester of 2023 mainly driven by the lagged effects of fiscal and monetary contraction in 2022 after extraordinary spending in 2021. The unemployment rate rose 0.7 percentage points y-o-y in June 2023. Female labor force participation grew 2 percentage points y-o-y but remains below pre-pandemic levels.

Poverty (less than US$6.85 a day) dropped from 8.0 percent in 2020 to 4.8 percent in 2022. Income inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient, reached 0.43 in 2022. However, deprivations in non-monetary dimensions, such as health care and social security, increased compared to 2020.

Real GDP is forecast to contract 0.4 percent in 2023 and return to a 2 percent trend growth rate in the medium term. Poverty is expected to increase by 0.4 pp, reaching 5.2 percent in 2023, while the Gini coefficient remains at 0.43.

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Chile: Commitments by Fiscal Year (in millions of dollars)*

*Amounts include IBRD and IDA commitments
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Country Office Contacts

CHILE +562 239 82400
Apoquindo 2929, 1300-A, Las Condes, Santiago
USA +1 202 473-1000
1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433