The Chilean government will introduce a series of wide-ranging reforms in the new year, particularly in the areas of health and education, President Sebastian Pinera said Sunday.
"Next year will be the year of grand structural reforms," he told the daily El Mercurio newspaper in an interview.
Just a few months into his administration, Pinera said he knows that an overhaul of health and education was likely to be a "shock" for Chileans that could lead to a decline in his approval ratings.
The center-right politician said the reforms were also not likely to sit well with parties of the opposition left and with Chile's powerful labor unions.
But Pinera said the reforms are nevertheless needed to trim bloated bureaucracies in both sectors.
"We have increased the size of the budget for health and education by six or seven times but have not seen corresponding improvements," said Pinera, the first right-of-center president to govern in Chile since the country returned to democratic governance in 1990.
A billionaire businessman, Pinera was sworn in as president in March, just days after Chile was hit by a massive earthquake and deadly tsunami, taking the place of popular leftwing leader Michelle Bachelet who served a single four-year term.
His tenure so far has been stamped by the earthquake response and by the dramatic October rescue of 33 miners, whose deliverance from what seemed like certain death after being trapped for two months underground became a cause of national celebration and international fascination.
Pinera's popularity rose to great heights immediately after the miners' rescue, but has plummeted in the weeks since, according to opinion polls.
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