"I'm not interested in a brutal economic growth if it doesn't improve people's lives", says President Michelle Bachelet

By Nono Barahona. April 8, 2017

SANTIAGO, Chile. In an interview with a Chilean newspaper, President Michelle Bachelet, 65, said that she is not interested in a "brutal economic growth" by itself, adding that the economic growth that matters is the one that improves people's lives.

Although the President used the word "brutal", she meant "whopping", "exceedingly high", a typical meaning of the word in Chilean Spanish.

The interview was published yesterday, and it resonated all over the Chilean press, with most media outlets quoting from it.

She acknowledged, though, that she is not happy with the fact that her current administration has been dominated by low economic growth, but she pointed out that, despite that, unemployment has been relatively low.

In the same line, she added that for those who rate an administration on the basis of economic growth performance, "evidently this is not going to be the administration with the highest economic growth".

However, regarding the current economic growth figures, she said that she has the feeling that they have hit rock bottom and that from now on the economy is going to grow, according to the article.

And she said that it is a fact that in 2018 there will be greater economic growth. For that reason, she warned that the next administration, whichever it is, should not take credit for higher economic growth.

President Bachelet's administration is into is final months, with a presidential election scheduled for November 19 this year. Therefore in 2018 a new administration will be in office.

Asked about her legacy, she said that she hopes that all the reforms she has pushed for, that sought to give people more dignity, and equal opportunities and rights, are embedded in people's lives.

She added that she expects that at the end of her administration Chile is a better country than at the start in 2014. She elaborated that by better she meant "a little bit fairer, a little bit more egalitarian" and a country that gives "a lot more opportunities to its boys and girls. That's the legacy I'm looking for. I'm not looking for statues", she said according to the interview.

"When you feel that you have to do something about the inequality that exists in the country, you know that's going to have costs, because not everyone will agree with the change". Asked about whether the political costs were worth it, she said that they are worth it when they help people, according to the interview.