Billionaire president Pinera says Chile poorer after the quake

Saturday, 13 March 2010 05:13 PM Maui A. Hermitanio

Sebastian Pinera, Chile’s newly-installed president estimated that it would cost USD30 billion to rebuild the nation after last month's devastating 8.8-magnitude quake.

The total value of economic damage caused is likely to range between 15 billion and 30 billion dollars, according to a forecaset by Eqecat, a US risk modeling firm. This amount equates to 10 per cent to 15 per cent of Chile's real gross domestic product, Hindustan Times reported.

Pinera who was sworn into office Thursday said he would "reassign some resources from the national budget" to help bear the costs of reconstruction.

He said in a Xinhua News Agency report that the government would also call for help from other nations and draw on "international credits" to finance rebuilding projects after the destructive.

In an Agence France Presse report, Pinera said, "It's true that Chile is a country that is poorer now" than before the quake.

Pinera, a billionaire businessman before he became president, was ranked by Forbes magazine as the 437^th richest person owns majority shares in the country’s largest airline LAN Chile before taking office.

He said it will take an "enormous austerity effort" to fully carry out the government's reconstruction plans, Yahoo News posted.

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