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Music to brighten up the quarantine 0:27
(CNN Spanish) - This Wednesday, the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, announced new economic measures to deal with the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the southern country, which so far has left a balance of 48 deaths and 5,546 confirmed cases.
In the first place, the president indicated that a US $ 2 billion fund will be created to provide new benefits to informal workers, who, due to not having an employment contract, have not had access to the unemployment benefits of the State. "This will benefit 2.6 million informal workers," Piñera explained.
Music to brighten up the quarantine 0:27On the other hand, "entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium entrepreneurs will be supported with the creation of lines of credit, which will be transferred by banks to entrepreneurs," the president continued. These lines will have a guarantee from the State that will allow "reducing the credit risk with the current pandemic and facilitate the conditions for banks to lend this working capital to companies."
Piñera also explained that the banks committed to participating in this program "must offer preferential interest rates to customers who request it and who meet the defined requirements. The banks that lend these resources must reprogram all the pre-existing credits with their debtors and postpone any amortization until this new line of credit is fully paid.
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"Companies must use these resources for their operational needs, including, among others, the payment of remuneration, leasing, payment to suppliers and other needs to remain operational during that emergency," the head of state concluded.