Chile Rules Out Dollar Bond Issue

Chile does not plan to issue a dollar bond this year, finance minister Andres Velasco says. “Chile has been authorized to issue a little more than $2.7bn in debt. It has already announced plans to issue this amount domestically,” Velasco tells reporters Thursday on a New York visit. Chile’s government announced plans this month t to sell $1.7bn equivalent in 5 and 10-year peso and UF-dominated domestic bonds, in addition to the $1bn it announced in January. Velasco says the Chilean economy likely will show negative year-on-year growth during the next few months, before seeing some recovery later this year. He declines to state whether he believes the Chilean economy already has already bottomed out.