One of the world’s most dramatic post-Covid spending squeezes is expected to deliver a bigger-than-expected budget surplus for Chile’s leftwing government this year, pleasing investors who had worried about radical President Gabriel Boric’s expensive campaign promises.

“We are expecting a surplus of 1.6 per cent of gross domestic product this year,” said finance minister Mario Marcel. “It’s the first surplus in nine years. The current government has made an effort to be disciplined which means that our results this year will be better than expected.”

Marcel, a technocrat who gained a reputation for caution in his previous role as governor of the country’s central bank, is adamant that the Boric administration will not repeat the economic mistakes made by leftwing governments elsewhere in the region.