Argentine farmers back on the roads protesting export duties

Saturday, December 28th 2019 - 09:53 UTC

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Argentine farmers from the central provinces of Cordoba and Santa Fé are back on the roads to protest the latest raft of export duties on agriculture produce and overall increase in taxes established by the recently sworn in administration of President Alberto Fernandez. Read full article

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Enrique Massot
It is true that former president Mauricio Macri eliminated most export taxes as soon as he was sworn-in. He reduced those on soybeans.

However, later in his term, he reinstated the hated taxes because the state income levels were plummeting. No protests occurred.

So now “duties on oil seeds, mainly soy beans can be increased from 30% to 33%...wheat and corn export duties can be raised from 12% to 15%.”

And...farmers take to the roads saying they can't bear a three-per-cent increase!

In addition, shortly after leaving office, Macri restricted purchases of US dollars to stem their flight out of the country, ”to $200 per month via bank accounts and just $100 each month in cash...a dramatic adjustment from the $10,000 (previous) restriction.“

The dominant media, then, was in a quandary. When CFK introduced restrictions, they cried out loud and argued that a ”cepo” (pillory) had been imposed on citizens. When Macri installed restrictions, they did their best not to use the term.

Irony of fate.
Dec 30th, 2019 - 03:55 am - Link - Report abuse -1
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