It is a package of measures to take care of the income of these sectors in exceptional circumstances of acceleration of the inflationary process that affects the world in general, and Argentina in particular, with a greater increase in food and energy as a result of the war between Russia and Ukraine
“These measures seek to preserve the purchasing power of income and guarantee a course of economic and social equity”announced the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán.
The $18,000 bonus will be given in two installments, in May and June, while the $12,000 for retirees and pensioners will be in a single installment in May, which will be added to the $6,000 bonus that is being paid to those who receive up to a minimum credit ($32,630).
In this way, two bonuses of 9,000 pesos will be paid in May and June to workers without formal income, workers in private homes and monotributistas of categories A and B.
As explained by the minister, the income boost for workers between 18 and 65 years of age will be for “those who require the protection of the State”, so “there will be criteria in terms of assets that will finish defining the population as a whole.” benefit from this type of income”.
In the case of the $12,000 bonus for retirees and pensioners, the payment will be made in a single installment for those who receive a credit of up to $65,260, which, added to the minimum bonus that retirees are receiving, will also total $18,000.
This income measure is added to the previously implemented policies of a 50% increase in the Food Card, increase in allocations and advance of the parity.
Before the announcements at Casa Rosada, the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, met with his peers from Labor, Claudio Moroni, and Social Development, Juanchi Zabaleta, to adjust the details of the measures aimed at taking care of the purchasing power of the workers.
Background
The Ministry of Economy continues to work on the bill to obtain additional resources from the sectors that had an unexpected income due to the rise in international prices, sources from the Casa Rosada confirmed to Ambit.
These funds will seek to assist sectors whose income has deteriorated in recent months through a mechanism similar to the IFE. It is that the beneficiaries of this state aid are precisely workers who are not unionized or are self-employed.
The Government’s intention is to assist the sectors whose income has been most deteriorated in recent months.
Formal sector wages have been increasing at a rate of 57.3% per year (data as of January, the latest published by INDEC) but the wages of the unregistered segment advanced only 40.7%.
That is, while the salaries of those in white beat inflation, those who work in the black lost more than 7 points against the price index.
The problem is aggravated if one takes into account that one of the items whose prices rose the most is food, products to which these sectors allocate most of their income. Private studies anticipate that, in the first quarter of the year, the food basket rose by nearly 20%.
It should be noted that close to 35% of workers are informal, according to official studies. The purpose of the Government is to allocate the funds obtained in this way fundamentally to serve non-unionized workers, whose income has been deteriorated by the rise in inflation and who do not have the recourse to negotiate in a joint venture.
In this sense, one of the ideas being considered in the Ministry of Economy is to give an income as a bonus for workers in black and monotributistas similar to the Emergency Family Income (IFE) that was granted during the health crisis unleashed by the coronavirus.
Qualified as “the most far-reaching economic benefit in history” by ANSES, the IFE was paid in its three editions to 8.9 million people.
Among the beneficiaries, it included workers in the informal economy, social monotributistas, monotributistas of categories A or B, workers in private homes, unemployed people and holders of the Universal Child Allowance (AUH) and Universal Pregnancy Allowance (AUE). In principle, the intention would be not to assist these last sectors since, in the official offices, they consider that “they are being assisted” with the various aids that were granted.. “We have the problem in the immediately superior segments”, they explain. Hence, they estimate the aid would be to a universe smaller than the almost 9 million people.
In this regard, market studies record a decrease in consumption in sectors whose income is immediately above the minimum. The latter are reached by different government assistance programs (AUH, plans, baskets, Alimentar card), but the same does not happen, for example, with self-employed workers who are in a precarious situation.
How will the new IFE be financed?
During the “spiritual retreat” carried out by the economic team a few days ago in Chapadmalal, the minister Martin Guzman and his collaborators advanced in the way in which the tax will be carried out “unexpected rent”.
The idea of the head of the Palace of Finance is that the State appropriates the extraordinary profits obtained by certain sectors as a result of the sharp rise in the international prices of raw materials as a result of the war in Ukraine.
These profits, as Guzmán explained in a report on C5N, were not the result of higher investments, but of an unusual rise in the value of commodities due to the war. Among the products that rose the most were cereals and oilseeds, gas, oil and minerals.
The official intention is that these surpluses be allocated in part to address the situation of vulnerable sectors of society that have been losing purchasing power. In particular, according to government sources, the purpose is to strengthen the income of informal workers. The aid granted would be similar to the IFE.
Unlike the wages paid to white workers who, through parity, have been beating inflationemployees “in black” have been losing more than 7 points with respect to inflation of the last twelve months, according to INDEC data.
One of the definitions that were taken in Chapadmalal, according to sources from the Casa Rosada, is that in reality a new tribute will not be created, but that it is projected an increase in the highest rate of income tax for amounts to be determined, in which it is verified exponential growth in profits.
Companies
According to the numbers that were shuffled in that reserved meeting, they are thinking in charging 15% above the higher rate of 35% of this tribute.
Another definition is that, in principle, it would encompass companies, not human persons and would deductible in case the companies make investment or take personal.
In other words, companies could avoid payment if they expand production capacity or increase employment, thus contributing to economic recovery.
Doubts
In the official offices there is a debate about which sectors will be reached. As a consequence of the war in Ukraine, energy prices are 93% above the level registered at the end of 2020, agricultural products rose 41% and metals 11%.
Thus, the sectors producing grains, gas, oil and metals could be on the radar of the new contribution. But the war also determined strong increases in other products such as fertilizers, aluminum, among others.
It is also under discussion what prices will be taken as a reference for the purposes of determining the unforeseen income, according to the definition of the minister Martin Guzmanas well as from when it will be applied.
The project generates Doubts within the government itself, according to the Casa Rosada. There is concern that the initiative may have objections from the International Monetary Fund, as well as that it fails to pass the filter of Congress.
However, the Ministry of Economy argues that The opposition can hardly refuse a project that aims to assist those who have the least.
Source: Ambito
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