Chile's poverty reaches record levels as coronavirus crisis causes unemployment to skyrocket

Record ID: 1560232

  • Title: Chile's poverty reaches record levels as coronavirus crisis causes unemployment to skyrocket
  • Date: 1st July 2020
  • Summary: SANTIAGO, CHILE (JUNE 28, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CAMP DIGNITY
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2020 20:45
  • Keywords: Camp Dignity Santiago coronavirus economy poor poverty
  • Location: SANTIAGO, CHILE
  • City: SANTIAGO, CHILE
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA003CKZCBIF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: QUALITY AS INCOMING, PART ORIGINALLY SHOT IN PORTRAIT
    The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has reduced many people to poverty in Chile. Santiago, a city of six million, largely depends on the informal economy and protests which broke out in October and raged until mid-December over social injustices and entrenched inequality also affected many businesses.
    At the foot of the Andes Mountains lies Campamento Dignidad (Camp Dignity), which is a plot of land provided by the government to those who are living just above the line of poverty and are forced to dwell in these camps because they cannot afford to pay rent elsewhere.
    Chile's unemployment rate hit 11.2% between March and May, the government said on Tuesday (June 30), laying bare the devastating impact of coronavirus lockdown measures on the South American nation's economy.
    The pandemic has exploded in Chile since May, with cases soaring to over 275,000 and the death toll at 5,575. All of Santiago, the country's capital and economic engine, is now under lockdown.
    People working in the commerce, accommodation, food services and construction sectors were the worst affected, national statistics agency INE said, while self-employed people were the worst hit across the board.
    The coronavirus outbreak has deepened a growing economic crisis in Chile, once among Latin America's most stable economies.
    The country was hit by widespread protests over inequality late in 2019, leading to billions in losses and damages to businesses. Economists now widely predict double digit unemployment and a drop in gross domestic product of around 7.5% by year's end.
    (Production: Esteban Medel, Geraldine Downer)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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