Chilean economy seen growing 2.7% in 2025 as mining recovers

Stock image.

Chile’s economy is expected to grow 2.7% in 2025 as its crucial mining sector recovers, Finance Minister Mario Marcel said on Tuesday in a presentation outlining the government’s budget proposal.

The world’s top copper producer should get a boost as the mining industry’s economic output is seen increasing by 3.5% next year, with overall economic activity forecast to grow by 2.5%.

Investment in 2025 should climb 5.9% as projects from the private sector pour in, Marcel said.

The government also expects fiscal revenues to rise due to a new mining royalty, higher lithium revenues from a tie-up between state copper miner Codelco and SQM and a tax compliance law, the minister said. Those factors should boost government revenue by an amount equivalent to about 1% of GDP, he said.

Public debt, meanwhile, should land slightly above 41% of the GDP in 2025, Marcel said.

Marcel added that the government sees the South American nation’s economy on track to hit the 2.6% growth forecast for this year.

“Chile’s annual growth from before the pandemic to (2025) would be higher than the average for all of Latin America for the same period” if next year’s results are in line with estimates, Marcel said.

The budget proposal forecasts inflation in 2025 hovering around 4.2% for the year, while domestic demand is expected to grow 3.4%.

Consumer prices in Chile rose 0.3% in August, with 12-month inflation coming in at 4.7%, according to data from statistics agency INE.

(By Fabian Cambero and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Alexander Villegas, Kylie Madry and David Gregorio)

Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *