Word: escudos
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Compromises. Chile also has one of the world's highest rates of inflation, more than 300% for 1973. To bring the spiraling economy under control, the junta has devalued by more than half the wildly inflated escudo, and ordered huge price increases for such necessities as sugar (400%) and cooking oil (500%), which had been subsidized at prices far below their market value. It canceled the inflationary (300%) wage increase in minimum salaries approved by Allende, but instituted a system of bonuses and benefits that has increased the minimum income to $42 a month...
...junta has also moved vigorously in the economic sector, which Allende left a shambles. Draconian measures such as the summary execution of black marketeers, an across-the-board freeze on wages and the drastic devaluation of the escudo have stabilized prices. Under Allende, inflation had risen more than 300%. The lucrative copper mines, which were plagued with labor strife, are functioning smoothly again. The junta has also announced its interest in negotiating with foreigners to lure badly needed investments to the country. Striking truckers are back at work, and food and other staples are beginning to flow into the major...
Hoping to brighten the dour national mood, government leaders declared a nationwide system of wage increases and lump-sum bonuses, which is likely to take effect sometime after the parliamentary elections in March. The plan applies to those making less than $434 a month in greatly inflated escudos, and will be formulated on a sliding scale favoring the lowest-paid workers. Chileans, however, have learned to be wary of the consequences of such enforced increases. In October 1971, after a 100% wage jump was ordered to give the lower classes more buying power, shoppers emptied shelves of already scarce consumer...
...result of the deteriorating economic situation, the Chilean escudo has slipped to an exchange rate of more than 40 to the dollar on the black market (v. 14.5 at the official rate). Since December, Chile's foreign reserves have dropped from $332 million to $255 million. As foreign technicians have left the country, discipline at the mines has fallen steadily. At the giant El Teniente copper mine, absenteeism has increased from 7% last year to more than 25% in February, while copper production at some mines is running 20% behind last year...
...sunny afternoon and wearing a donkey tail. But other Chileans panicked at the news. Fearful of a stampede of scared investors, the Santiago stock market closed for a day for the first time since 1938, and depositors withdrew massive funds from Chilean banks. The black-market rate for the escudo soared to as high as 50 to the U.S. dollar-as compared with 14.5 at the official rate and 21 at the unofficial pre-election level. The U.S. consulate was swamped with calls for information about visas...