LatinNews Daily Report - 19 July 2012

ECONOMY | Minimum wage approved. On 18 July both houses of congress approved the proposal made by the Sebastián Piñera government to set the new minimum wage at US$386, up from the current US$364. The approval by congress follows a lengthy negotiation process, which had exacerbated divisions within the ruling coalition’s more moderate Renovación Nacional (RN) and the ultra-conservative Unión Demócrata Independiente (UDI). After the bill had been rejected in both houses, it was re-submitted through the so-called “presidential additive veto”, which requires fewer votes to pass. It was approved by 51-32 in the lower chamber and 15-1 in the upper house.