Chilean government announced Friday that it had decided to take a package of measures to minimize the effects of the international financial crisis.

The announcement was made after Chilean Economy Minister Hugo Lavados met with representatives from six sectors of the Production and Commerce Confederation (CPC).

Lavados said that they would continue to take measures to increase market liquidity following the Central Bank of Chile (BCCh)'s efforts to keep the interest rate at 8.25 percent.

"The measures must come out of an analysis process, a diagnostic of what is going on. They must be oriented where the real issues are," Lavados said.

The proposals will be ready next week, Lavados said.

According to the minister, currently there is not a crisis in Chile, but "a complicated situation regarding the financial system."

Meanwhile, the Superintendence of Banks admitted that the world financial crisis "has had some consequences in the working of the national financial system."

However, it said that the banks have enough liquidity on local and foreign currency and have been benefited from the measures taken by the Treasury Ministry and the BCCh.

The BCCh has announced in two occasions foreign exchange swaps for near 418 million U.S. dollars to deepen the liquidity of local banks on dollars.

(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2008)