Some Analysts See a Currency Crisis in Chile’s Peso Slump
- Peso slid 4% Thursday as rate hike failed to reassure market
- Chile’s going through ‘full-fledged currency crisis’: NatWest
A Chilean flag flies outside La Moneda Palace in Santiago, Chile, on July 13.
Photographer: Tamara Merino/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A slump in the Chilean peso is reaching crisis proportions, damaging the reputation of a nation once touted as a beacon of light in otherwise murky emerging markets.
The peso has lost more than a fifth of its value since the start of June, hitting repeated record lows, under the weight of a strong US currency, weakening copper prices and concern over the writing of a new constitution. The currency tumbled 4% on Thursday, the day after the central bank hiked interest rates to the highest since 1998.