Chile

The Republic of Chile is located in Southern South America along the west coast, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. Chile is about double the size of California and covers an area of 756,950 sq. kilometers. The total population is 17.2 million and is growing at a rate of 0.86% with 89% living in urban areas. The capital of Santiago has a population of 6.25 million with other main cities including Concepcion-Talcahuano (840,000) and Vina del Mar-Valparaiso (800,000). The people are governed by a republic and are predominantly Roman Catholic. The official language is Spanish, and the currency used is the Chilean Peso.

Chile has a stable market economy based on a high level of foreign trade, with copper being the biggest export. Chile’s stable economy and free trade agreements make it an ideal place for foreign investment, with foreign investments having quadrupled in the past 5 years. Chile’s main trade partners are the US, China, Brazil, Japan, Argentina, Netherlands, South Korea, and Italy. Its primary imports are petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, electronics and telecommunications equipment, and industrial machinery. Exports include copper, fruit, fish products, paper and pulp, chemicals, and wine. Chile’s GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) is $325.8 billion and is growing at a real rate of 5.5% with an inflation rate of 2.8%. Chile ranked 37th out of 185 countries in the World Bank Group’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking.

Viva Global Expansion! Trade Mission to Latin America(2012)Click the links below for articles with more information on Franchising in Chile

Latin American Market Sizzles with U.S. Franchisors (2012)

US Commercial Service Market - Chile(2010)

News from Around the World: Latin America(2008)

The Future of Latin America(2007)

* CPI Score is published by Transparency International and relates to the perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between 100 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt).

**Ease of Doing Business Ranking is determined by the World Bank Group and is ranked out of a possible 185 countries. www.doingbusiness.org

Most recent statistics have been taken from the CIA World Factbook unless noted otherwise.