On April 15, the Chamber of Deputies passed the bill filed by the Executive to expand Fogape credit lines for companies earning up to 1 million development units (approximately USD 33 million). The text has been sent to the Executive for enactment, which is expected to occur in the coming days. In other news, the Central Bank has published the minutes of the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee regarding developments in March 2020.

The Executive’s idea is to promote, facilitate and expand access to liquidity for operators by making the requirements for using the Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (FOGAPE) more flexible, until April 30, 2021, and by authorizing the Fund to increase capital by up to three billion dollars. The government’s idea is to bring credit on line for the private sector in the next few months.

The Central Bank of Chile has also issued the minutes of the March 2020 Monetary Policy meeting, where the authorities agreed to reduce the Monetary Policy Rate by 50 base points, down to 0.5%.

In other news, the Minister of Social Development and Family, Sebastián Sichel, presented the new website www.ingresominimo.cl which will allow workers to apply for the guaranteed minimum income benefit from April 15. It has been designed to help workers receiving lower wages.

Finally, the Minister of Economy, Lucas Palacios, gave a joint announcement with the president of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (CCS, for its acronym in Spanish), Peter Hill, to launch a program to incorporate products on a digital platform from all the stores that have had to close as a result of the coronavirus crisis. This initiative will allow those affected to open an online store on the main e-commerce marketplaces associated with the CCS.