By Nathan Gill

     Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) — Chile’s Finance Minister Andres Velasco comments on the potential economic consequences in Chile of Ecuador’s decision to default on $3.9 billion of international debt. Velasco spoke today in an interview in Santiago.

On the affects of Ecuador’s decision to default on Chile’s economy:

     “None. What Chile is doing is very clear. Chile has the lowest external debt on the continent, it has practically zero public debt, it has a very high credit rating and yesterday the credit rating agencies reaffirmed the outlook rating and complimented Chile for its fiscal and financial policies. The facts speak for themselves.”

     Standard & Poor’s yesterday affirmed its A+/A-1 foreign currency and AA/A-1+ local currency sovereign credit ratings on Chile.