Chile says goodbye to another particularly turbulent year with important pending tasks for 2022, including taking care of and completing the constituent process, facing the migration crisis on the northern border, tackling rising inflation or, in football terms, achieving qualification for Qatar 2022.
Take care of the constituent process
The social outbreak of 2019, the greatest crisis in three decades, triggered an unprecedented constituent process in the world that will culminate in 2022 with the calling of a referendum to ratify the new Fundamental Laws that will replace the current ones, inherited from the dictatorship of Augustus. Pinochet (1973-1990) and considered as the origin of the country’s inequalities.
A large part of the population has placed their hopes of change towards a fairer model in this process, hence taking care of it and promoting broad agreements that recognize Chile’s diversity is one of the main challenges.
Reforms with a divided Congress
The leftist Gabriel Boric took over the Chilean Presidency on December 19 with 55.8% of the votes and after promising a profound agenda of changes to expand the role of the State towards a welfare model similar to that of Europe, with an environmentalist, feminist and regionalist accent.
However, the former student leader, who will take office in March, will not have it easy and will have to deal with a highly fragmented Parliament where progressive and conservative forces are tied, so he will have to show great negotiating skills to push through reforms. structural measures that he committed in the campaign.
Migration that does not stop
Neither the pandemic nor the protests of 2019 have discouraged the desire to migrate to Chile, one of the most attractive countries in Latin America due to its political and economic stability and which for a few months has been experiencing an unparalleled migration crisis on its northern border.
The UN estimates that about 500 Venezuelan migrants cross irregular border crossings between Bolivia and Chile daily, an Andean area at more than 3,600 meters high with extreme temperatures and where at least 21 people have died this year. Addressing this humanitarian crisis will be one of Boric’s great challenges.
Stop the drought
2021 will say goodbye with the sad record of being the fourth driest year in Chile since there are records, a situation that is especially critical in the central area, where thousands of inhabitants receive water daily thanks to trucks and the temperature does not stop. to go up: last July, in the middle of winter, almost 30 degrees were registered.
The drought, which has now reached 13 consecutive years, is a consequence of the climate crisis, but environmental organizations denounce that the Chilean water management model – whose origin dates back to the neoliberal economy established during the dictatorship – has aggravated it. Increasing aid for farmers and ranchers, preventing fires and guaranteeing water supply is a pending task for 2022.
Post-pandemic recovery
Despite the fact that the pandemic caused a 5.8% drop in Chilean GDP in 2020 -the biggest drop in four decades-, the recovery has been faster than expected: the Central Bank forecasts a growth of between 11.5% for this year and 12% and between 1.5% and 2.5% by 2022.
Of the almost two million jobs that were lost during the toughest months of the pandemic, more than 1.5 million have already been recovered, although the country maintains high rates of informality and female employment continues to be the worst hit. Controlling the pandemic and advancing the successful vaccination process are essential to underpin recovery and not return to harmful confinements.
Fight inflation
The recovery, however, is causing unprecedented inflation, which in November reached 6.7% year-on-year, its highest figure since December 2008.
The Central Bank has decided to fight it with all the tools at its disposal and on December 14, it accelerated the withdrawal of the monetary stimulus, increasing the benchmark interest rate from 2.75% to 4%, its highest level since 2014.
Copper, the engine of recovery
Copper, of which Chile is the world’s largest producer, has driven much of the recovery: the red metal reached its maximum price of US $ 4.86 a pound in May, even surpassing the records of the “super cycle” of 2011.
The Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco) estimates that this year it will close with an average value of US $ 4.2 per pound and that the price will fall to US $ 3.95 in 2022. Maintaining production levels and meeting growing international demand is one of the main challenges for the red metal to continue being the engine of the Chilean economy.
Towards Qatar 2022
To date, Martín Lasarte’s “La Roja” is in sixth position in the South American qualifying table heading to Qatar 2022. Despite losing at home to Ecuador in a key match, in recent days his performance has improved and still there are opportunities to rank.
With the so-called “Golden Generation” as the backbone of the squad -that litter of players that gave two Copa América to the country-, the combination of experienced and promising youngsters will be Chile’s formula to try to climb in the three remaining qualifying days for the World Cup. soccer.
Strengthen women’s football
During 2021, “La Roja feminina” made history after her first qualification for the Olympic Games and world recognition as one of the best players on the planet for Christiane Endler, captain of the national team and goalkeeper of Olympique de Lyon.
At the local level, the situation for women’s football is not so encouraging: only 4.4% of the professionals are hired and 83% do not receive a salary. Strengthening and professionalizing women’s football is a debt for athletes who have defended the name of Chile so well in international competitions.
Preparation of the Pan American Games
The Santiago 2023 Pan American and Parapan American Games represent a fundamental logistical and sporting challenge for Chile, which will host.
Preparing the infrastructure for the 38 disciplines that will be present at the continental event and strengthening Team Chile, which has had an outstanding and award-winning participation in previous editions, will be one of the sporting challenges of 2022.
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Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
