MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's Domestic Trade Secretary “can't perform miracles”

Under Néstor and Cristina Kirchner (2003-2015), export taxes were “higher when international prices were lower and nobody lost money,” Feletti argued

Argentina's Domestic Trade Secretary Roberto Feletti Thursday admitted that the inflation figures for the month of March “will be bad” following the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine on the local economy.

“You can't perform miracles,” Feletti said. He also pointed out that “price controls are not enough,” which is why additional measures will be needed.

“The State should have more tools,” Feletti regretted. “Everything that can be done is done, from daily monitoring to the tools provided by law,” Feletti added in a radio interview.

The official explained that in the current scenario prices can only “be contained.”

Due to the war in Ukraine, “our task is microeconomic; it is to work on prices and the costs of the companies.”

Feletti added that “we also fight to ensure that international prices, which today are very high, do not have an impact on domestic prices, especially for food inputs such as wheat, corn, and sunflower.”

“In order to have an economy with sustained expansion and a stable price trend, we have to do it with the accumulation of reserves in the Central Bank,” he also pointed out.

If it were up to him, “wheat, sunflower, and corn would have to have higher levels of export duties.” He added that under Néstor and Cristina Kirchner (2003-2015), those taxes were “higher when international prices were lower and nobody lost money.”

Regarding a recent sharp increase in the price of bread, Feletti said that “the Argentine people have to take into account that we cannot validate a wealth effect.” He also explained that “they stockpile wheat, that product suddenly doubles or increases 70% in dollars and that wealth effect is transferred to bread and the population pays for it.”