Chile’s referendum, BCB’s autonomy

Chile’s electorate is likely to vote in favour of having a new constitution on Sunday, which may start a long process towards entrenching greater state intervention in the economy. That would help to boost Chile’s recovery over the coming years but would probably weigh on local financial markets and the currency. Elsewhere, Brazil’s Senate will soon vote on a bill which would give the central bank full autonomy. If passed, that could help to ease fears that the BCB may come under political pressure to keep interest rates low in order to control the public debt burden.