Kast announces his first Budget with a 1.5% spending increase, focused on employment, security and health

It is the first Budget drawn up by the government of José Antonio Kast. And for that very reason, his messages marked the stamp he wants to impose and the areas where he will prioritize public spending. "A budget is not just a spreadsheet of numbers. It is a decision about what comes first, what gets postponed, and how the nation's resources are organized, within the possibilities a government has," said President Kast in his televised address to the nation. Kast stated that within the fiscal treasury "there are things that have to come first, and we have decided to put Chileans first. The mother who has been looking for work for months. The small business that wants to overcome obstacles, grow its venture, and hire more workers." He thus detailed how he will address the urgencies that "Chileans need to live better." And he mentioned the urgency of growth, jobs, reconstruction, and "a safer Chile." He also included as urgencies protecting the most vulnerable children and protecting the social benefits that are correctly delivered. Kast indicated that the 2027 Budget grows by 1.5% compared to this year's execution. With this, 2027 fiscal spending would exceed 90 trillion pesos (which, at the current exchange rate, would be on the order of US$93 billion). "This effort is financed and meets the fiscal deficit target," he said, emphasizing that "every peso, where it is needed most. Today, of every 1,000 pesos the State spends, more than 600 go to pensions, health, and education. That is the part this Budget protects." He highlighted that spending had been expected to grow between 0% and 1%, "but we decided to make an additional half-point effort to accelerate recovery, investment, and employment. The problem was never investing. The problem was spending without knowing how to pay for it." "For this Budget, every ministry had to project its spending not only for the next year, but for the next five years," the president added. Valparaiso, September 30, 2026 The Minister of Finance, Jorge Quiroz, along with the budget director, Jose Pablo Gomez, formally delivers the 2027 Budget Law project at the National Congress Sebastian Cisternas/Aton Chile SEBASTIAN CISTERNAS/ ATON CHILE PrioritiesThe Budget has four priorities, as Kast detailed. The first is to grow again, create jobs, and rebuild. "Today there are 980,000 people looking for work without finding it. We have had unemployment above 8% for more than three and a half years. Many are women, many are young people still waiting for their first contract," he said. And he asserted that for 2027, 9.5 trillion pesos will be allocated to growth, jobs, and reconstruction, which translates into an 8.1% increase over this year. "Tonight I want to announce that we will launch an extraordinary portfolio of 241 public works, in all regions of Chile, designed to create jobs and advance toward development. These are conservation works built with local labor. We are not going to wait until mid-year: we will move their start up to January, with work-by-work monitoring," he said. The second priority is security. "In August I presented our agenda against organized crime, and for this, 7 trillion pesos will be allocated to security, 9.1% more than this year, reallocating resources toward those on the streets, at the borders, and safeguarding the prisons." The third urgency is "our children," he indicated. "Arriving earlier and protecting better," the president said in his speech. He then detailed that, in total, 2.5 trillion pesos will be allocated, 4.1% more than this year, to this item, and that the fund supporting the development of children at greatest risk grows by 165%. "Technical aids for children with disabilities, such as wheelchairs, walkers, and others, will double," he noted. He also said that protecting better means arriving on time when the harm has already occurred. "Today more than 13,000 children who were victims of serious abuse or mistreatment are waiting for someone to attend to them. A State that leaves an abused child on a waiting list is not fulfilling its most basic task," he commented. Therefore, in this fiscal budget, reparation programs grow by 19.3% and "work with their families, so that the harm is not repeated, grows by 24.1%." The fourth priority is protecting social benefits. "For months it was said that putting the accounts in order would mean taking benefits away from families. This Budget proves the opposite," Kast stressed. And he detailed that the Universal Guaranteed Pension will have 7 trillion pesos for more than 2.2 million elderly people. "These are men and women who built this country with their work, who raised their children, and who today deserve something very simple: to know that at the end of the month their pension will be there. No fine print." Valparaiso, September 30, 2026 The Minister of Finance, Jorge Quiroz, along with the budget director, Jose Pablo Gomez, formally delivers the 2027 Budget Law project at the National Congress Sebastian Cisternas/Aton Chile SEBASTIAN CISTERNAS/ ATON CHILE On the other hand, he emphasized that "education is one of the largest investments in this Budget: 17.3 trillion pesos, the second largest budget in the State, surpassed only by Health. With these resources we ensure, every month, the education of more than 3.5 million students, we reinforce support for the 2.2 million children and young people who need it most, and we maintain school meals for 1.8 million children." It was also mentioned that the teaching career grows by 2.9% and reaches more than 215,000 teachers, and it is ensured that free tuition is maintained for more than 600,000 students, and we increase scholarships for young people who want to continue studying after school. "None of the benefits guaranteed by law are touched. What will change—and has been changing since the day we took office—is that the State will verify every peso of social spending, cross-checking the information in its records so that resources reach those to whom they correspond. The requirements do not change. The amounts do not change. What changes is the care of the resources of all Chileans," the President affirmed. For Health, the budget is increased by 4.7%. "It is not just about putting in more resources, but about those resources becoming timely care," he said. In the breakdown of that increase in resources, he indicated that funding will grow to shorten waits: "Care will be purchased from clinics, investment will be made in higher-complexity hospitals, and the clinics, Cesfam health centers, and rural health posts also receive more, with a greater contribution per enrolled person." Another notable point is that "Fonasa will buy better, demanding quality, speed, and a good price." To this end, "an essential basket of medicines will be promoted, so that families spend less out of pocket; a shared medical record between the public and private networks; and the use of artificial intelligence so that the most seriously ill patient is treated first. Because no one should get sicker while waiting on a list." He also expressed that the focus will be on "stop spending badly. The State paid more than 8 billion pesos above the market price in purchases through framework agreements. Just by adjusting the rents of public offices to what the market is worth, we can save up to 5 billion a year. Therefore, from now on, we will measure how much each service pays for what it buys, how much it pays in rent, among other management improvements." As a final message, Kast said that "tonight, in many homes in Chile, someone will sit at the table to work out the month's accounts: first, the urgent things; then, the rest; and never spend what you don't have. That is exactly what our Government is doing today." All of this with the goal of "ensuring that those who look for work find it, and that those who lost their home have a home again. That those who go out at night return home safely. That the child who waits no longer has to wait. That those who worked all their lives receive what is theirs every month." QuirozEarlier, the Minister of Finance, Jorge Quiroz, along with the Budget Director, José Pablo Gómez, delivered the fiscal budget to the Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies, Ximena Ossandón (RN). "We have the expectation that this will move forward reasonably. It is a moderate expansion of spending; it is a responsible budget with a strong emphasis on job reactivation, public works, housing, and also the things citizens have asked for, such as security, while fully upholding the social benefits established by law," Quiroz said. The Cabinet minister pointed out regarding the 1.5% public spending increase that "what is important rather implies moderate growth and, of course, all the most important ministries are increasing."