March Bonus to double: find out details about this measure, as well as the family income support package that the Government will implement
The 2023 Permanent Family Contribution (March Bonus) will reach almost $120,000 Chilean pesos if approved by Congress. It will go directly into people’s pockets, benefitting more than 1.5 million households.
President Gabriel Boric has announced great news for Chilean families: the 2023 Permanent Family Contribution (Aporte Familiar Permanente), better known as the March Bonus (Bono Marzo), will double if approved by Congress. It will reach almost $120,000 Chilean pesos (US$145), which will go directly into people’s pockets, benefitting more than 1.5 million households.
The bonus will be given to families who receive the Single Family Subsidy (Subsidio Único Familiar) through the Securities and Opportunities Subsystem, or the Family or Maternity Allowance (Asignación Familiar or Asignación Maternal) for their dependents.
We know that these have been difficult times, and the increase in the cost of living is a challenge that families are facing every month. The Government has therefore decided to announce further measures to create solutions that support and relieve household economies.
There are seven measures in total. They include doubling the Permanent Family Contribution (March Bonus) for 2023, creating an Electronic Family Account (Bolsillo Familiar Electrónico), and increasing and expanding the Family Allowance and the Single Family Subsidy.
These measures will join various other initiatives and bills that we have promoted in recent months to provide concrete help to households. They include measures such as fuel price stabilization, introducing a bill to incorporate around 70,000 new beneficiaries into the Universal Guaranteed Pension (Pensión Garantizada Universal) and increasing it to $250,000 pesos (US$300), providing an extraordinary winter bonus of $120,000 pesos (US$145) that benefitted 7.5 million people, the highest minimum wage increase in the last 25 years, the creation of a new Guarantee Fund for Small-Scale Entrepreneurs (FOGAPE) to facilitate access to financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and a tax relief law for smaller companies.
Find out details of all the new measures below:
1. March Bonus
We will double the amount of the Permanent Family Contribution (known as the March Bonus) in 2023, supporting families at a time of the year when there is a high economic burden. This will benefit more than 3 million people from 1.5 million households.
People will receive the Permanent Family Contribution as they currently do, and will receive a second extraordinary payment for the same amount once the bill is approved by Congress. The contribution will thus reach almost $120,000 pesos.
To check your status, go to www.aportefamiliar.cl and enter your RUT and date of birth. You will be informed of your assigned payment date and place once the list of beneficiaries has been published.
*Bill subject to approval by Congress.
2. We will create the Electronic Family Account.
This will consist of a transfer from the Social Security Institute (IPS) of $13,500 pesos (US$16) per month per dependent. It will be paid into the CuentaRUT (RUT Account) as a separate amount to be used exclusively for purchasing food. These payments will cover up to 20% of the cost of purchases to alleviate the increase in the cost of living for 1.5 million households.
If the beneficiary does not have money in their CuentaRUT, they will still be able to use the balance in their Electronic Family Account.
This will replace the Basic Food Basket Contribution (Aporte Canasta Básica de Alimentos), which will be valid only until April 2023. The benefit will now be a fixed amount throughout the year, which will allow us to continue helping families.
*Bill subject to approval by Congress.
3. We will increase the Family Allowance (AF) and the Single Family Subsidy (SUF).
We will permanently increase the Family Allowance and the Single Family Subsidy by 20%, which will benefit more than 3 million people from 1.5 million households. This is an increase of up to $3,500 pesos (US$4.25) per month; a family receiving the SUF or the upper bracket of the AF will have their payment increased from $16,828 pesos (US$20.36) to $20,328 (US$24.61) per month. Families in the final two payment brackets of the AF will now receive $12,475 pesos (US$15.09) – up from $10,327 pesos (US$12.50) – and $3,943 pesos (US$4.77) – up from $3,264 pesos (US$3.95).
For example, a household with two dependents will receive $40,656 pesos (US$49.19) per month in SUF (or the upper payment bracket of the AF).
In line with our commitment to put children front and center, we will make progress on automating the SUF, so that it reaches more than 900,000 children and adolescents who belong to the most vulnerable 40% of the population, and who do not currently have access to this benefit due to problems with the application process. This will allow us to advance towards a progressive minimum level of social protection.
*Bill subject to approval by Congress.
4. Agreement to reduce medicine prices.
We will expand our direct agreements with pharmacy chains, which will allow us to increase the number of discounted medicines from 2,700 to 6,900, reducing their cost by an average 32%. These discounts will be available to National Health Service (FONASA) users throughout the country. The number of pharmacies offering these discounts will also increase from 240 to 512.
The medicines included in this agreement can be found in the FONASA search engine, available at this link. By entering the name of the medicine, you can find out if the price has been discounted and in which nearest affiliated pharmacy it can be found, as the search is georeferenced with the nearest stores.
5. We will expand the School Meals Program (Programa de Alimentación Escolar, PAE).
We will expand the School Meals Program to 50,000 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students from public schools. And, just as we promised, we will increase the Higher Education Food Scholarship (Beca de Alimentación para la Educación Superior, BAES) by an additional $5,000 pesos (US$6.05) per month. We had already increased the amount by $5,000 pesos last year.
6. We will extend the application period for the Employment Emergency Family Income (IFE Laboral) and the Protect Subsidy (Subsidio Protege).
We will extend the application period for the entire first half of 2023 so that it can be accessed by new users. This will promote the creation of almost 600,000 formal jobs.
7. We will implement a program of special state guarantees for the construction sector.
This program offers credits of $50 billion pesos (US$60.7 million) for the construction sector. It will allow thousands of jobs to be maintained, and encourage the creation of new ones for workers in this area. It will also provide continuity to investment projects in housing and infrastructure affected by international cost increases.
This fund will be similar to FOGAPE and will focus exclusively on the construction sector.
Bill subject to approval by Congress.
For more information, you can visit www.gob.cl/seguridadeconomica.