Gabriel Boric’s election as president of Chile in December 2021 marked an important political shift since the country’s return to democracy. Since taking office in March 2022, his programmatic agenda has attracted significant interest from the region as it aims to transform Chilean society to make it more inclusive while maintaining economic growth, job creation, and stability. Simultaneously, the country awaits the proposal for a new Constitution that will be put to a national plebiscite on September 4, 2022. Chile’s new minister of finance, Mario Marcel, discussed these key issues and the new administration priorities, key structural reforms, productivity challenges and policies to preserve the environment and fight climate change. Alejandro Werner, founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute, moderated the discussion.
To access the full presentation, click here.
This event was hosted by the Georgetown Americas Institute and co-sponsored by the Georgetown Center for Economic Research.
Photo Courtesy of Flick User Banco Central de Chile
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Mario Marcel currently serves as finance minister of Chile. Before assuming his position in March 2022, he was president of the Central Bank of Chile for six years. Previously, he was director of the World Bank's Good Governance Practice Area, deputy director of Public Governance and Territorial Development at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and manager of Institutional Capacity and Finance at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Minister Marcel is the author of numerous publications on a wide range of topics, including macroeconomics, public finance, monetary policy, governance and public management, social policies and social security. He holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Chile and a M. Phil. in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
Alejandro Werner (moderator) is the founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute and a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. He recently completed almost nine years as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that appointment, he rose to undersecretary in Mexico’s Finance Ministry and taught at leading universities in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He earned his Ph.D. in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.
