Former President Sebastián Piñera faced criticism from another former Chilean president -Ricardo Lagos- about the country's indebtedness in recent years: “the average debt during our first government: 11.1% of GDP, that is, less than the average that the president had Lagos.”
The former president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, responded to another former head of state, such as Ricardo Lagos, after the second criticized him for increasing the country's foreign debt during his second government.
Piñera participated Monday afternoon in a conference organized by the Pontificia Universidad Católica, where the former presidents of Chile have spoken about the situation in the country and where last week, Lagos questioned the businessman.
“What did the increase in tax pressure in Chile do? How soon did you start borrowing? Bachelet 1 left it in how much? I pass the notice, I left it at 5, she at 8 because she suffered the financial crisis in 2008. And with Piñera it began to rise and with Bachelet 2 it continued to rise and with Piñera 2 it finished rising. Before the covid”, questioned Lagos, according to La Tercera.
These statements annoyed the former RN militant, who stated that they did not conform to reality and showed a graph, where he assured that the debt of the country was 12.5% in the Lagos government.
“They were not lucky for the following. In the first place, because it does not conform to reality. And second, because it does not consider the circumstances either. I have here a calculation of how much the average gross debt was during the government of President Lagos: 12.5% of GDP. And how much was the average debt during our first government: 11.1% of GDP, that is, less than the average that President Lagos had,” he stated.
Finally, Piñera justified the increase in debt in his second government because they had to face crises such as the so-called social outbreak or covid-19.
“In the second government the debt grew. Of course it grew, because we had to face four crises that we had never known in Chile, but it grew less than it had during the second government of President Bachelet, who did not have to face those crises. So from that point of view, I want to clarify that the issue of fiscal responsibility is an issue that was very present in our government,” she pointed out.