SANTIAGO, Chile: This country, which has long been Latin America’s economic star, has seen its economic growth fall from 5 percent average in recent years to a projected 1.9 percent this year. But President Michelle Bachelet sounded pretty confident during an interview that things will get “somewhat better” in 2015, and much better in 2016.
Before we get into whether her optimism is justified, let’s review what she told me in a 40-minute interview at the presidential palace. A day earlier, a story in the Financial Times describing the country’s economic performance as “mediocre” made front page headlines in Chile.
Disputing criticism from the business community that her left-of-centre government has scared away domestic and foreign investments with its