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Chile Peso Joins Pound, Dollar on Vaccination Winners List

  • The currency is beating regional peers as inoculations pick up
  • That’s expected to fuel growth and bring higher interest rates
A nurse receives a vaccine as Health Minister Enrique Paris (R), Public Health Subsecretary Paula Daza (C) and Subsecretary of Assistance Networks Roberto Dougnac stand by on December 24, 2020 in Santiago, Chile. (Photo by David Lillo/Ministerio de Salud de Chile via Getty Images)

A nurse receives a vaccine as Health Minister Enrique Paris (R), Public Health Subsecretary Paula Daza (C) and Subsecretary of Assistance Networks Roberto Dougnac stand by on December 24, 2020 in Santiago, Chile. (Photo by David Lillo/Ministerio de Salud de Chile via Getty Images)

Photographer: Handout/Getty Images South America
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For old emerging-market hands, the sudden jump in the Chilean peso has a facile explanation on first blush: surging copper prices.

And this is certainly part of the story, but there’s a much bigger phenomenon that’s supporting the rally. The government’s vaccination campaign is rapidly gaining speed, stoking expectations that the economy will boom later in the year and interest rates will start to climb.