After the end of the military regime, the new coalition - made up of centre-left parties (<Concertacion) - implemented several reforms in the labour market and in the social sector, financing them through a new tax reform (1990) and supported by the favorable external conditions and sustained economic growth. During the first half of the nineties (1990-1996) the moderate poverty rate dropped from 38.6 to 23.2 per cent and the indigence rate followed a similar trend, falling from 12.9 to 5.8 per cent (de la Guardia et al., Conversely, the second half of the nineties was characterized by relative stagnation, especially for extreme poverty, which decreased by just 0.1 points between 1996 and 2000.