Chile debates the future

International Herald Tribune
Reuters. June 12, 2008

"Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire and a likely right-wing candidate for the Chilean presidential elections next year, this week announced that he would favor selling 20 percent of Codelco to local pension funds.

The debate is a delicate one, not least of all because it involves the country's biggest source of income.
Codelco pays 10 percent of its revenue to Chile's influential armed forces, an amount that reached $1.39 billion in 2007. All of its pretax profit, about $8.5 billion last year, goes to government coffers and comprises a hefty portion of the national budget.

The company has made Chile the largest copper producer in the world. But Codelco's output has lately been declining, at an untimely moment for the economy."