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©Reuters. The UF, the “non-currency” that squeezes Chileans, climbs to record values
Santiago de Chile, Oct 8 (.).- The Unidad de Fomento (UF), a financial instrument authorized by the Central Bank of Chile in the 1970s to revalue savings against inflation, but which has become a rope credit, will exceed in the next few days the 34,800 pesos in November, its record figure.
A rise that will multiply the pressure on the pockets of Chilean citizens, since most loans, especially those related to the real estate market – rentals and mortgages – are fixed in UF.
But not only in this sector, numerous schools, educational centers, and even health insurance institutions (isapres), a private health insurance system, establish their fees in this value, even if it is not a currency.
The value of a UF unit, which changes every day according to the variation of the CPI of the previous month, has grown in a minimal and stable way until the beginning of 2022, exercising its function of regularization and readjustment of the market.
On December 31, 2019, it marked a value of 28,309 pesos; a year later, it had risen to 29,070 pesos and on the last day of 2021 its value was 30,991 pesos.
Barely ten months later, its value has risen the same as it has risen in recent years together, reaching 34,800 pesos that put thousands of families in a difficult position, in a country where, according to the Central Bank, 57% of the households have some type of debt.
The survey also revealed that the average household in Chile spends 21% of its monthly income on paying debts, which represents 3.5 times its monthly income, the same level as in 2017.
The big problem for many is that while debts and payments in UF climb to levels never seen before, the same does not happen with salaries, which are normally in national currency, the Chilean peso. In addition, the debt is updated for inflation, but the salaries are not.
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