A low and subsequent elimination in the COUNTRY TAXa measure that the Government is considering for the coming months, will be reflected “automatically” in the costs of computer products.
This was indicated by the Jean-Pierre Cecilionregional director for Hispanic South America of the Kingston firm, dedicated to the production of memories.
“One of the promises of this Government was to remove the Country Tax, this impacts our products because they are imported, the reduction of ten points and its elimination would have a positive impact on business and consumers,” said the executive in dialogue with the Noticias Argentinas agency, while his company was presenting new products.
As confirmed in recent days by President Javier Milei and the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, The Government plans to reduce the PAIS tax in September from 17.5 to 7.5 percent, and eliminate it completely in December.
Cecilion explained that the reduction in the tax on foreign currency transactions will be reflected in a decrease in the costs of his firm’s products, all of which are imported.
He also explained that the Argentine market is of special interest to the firm’s headquarters, located in California, United States, because it is the third most important country in Latin America for its products, after Mexico and Brazil.
“It was the second country in the region after Mexico with a significant presence of Kingston. The product mix is very complete because the Argentine market consumes all products. We hope that with the reduction of the PAIS Tax our products will be more accessible,” said the executive.
When asked about the current situation in the country, Cecilion pointed out that in the final months of Alberto Fernández’s government, several companies stocked up on computer products for fear of an abrupt closure of imports.
According to the CEO, “the surprise is that none of that happened,” since “there was no suspension of business” and the payment of debts for imports was expedited with the measures applied by the new Government.
He said that although the company’s sales cannot be compared to the months in which corporations were stocking up, sales have been growing month by month since last October.
However, he admitted that there are difficulties in the companies, a circumstance that partly benefits the memory firm.
The difficulty of replacing equipment means that companies try to prolong its useful life, which is why they seek to do so by changing memory and hard drives.
“Most of the products we offer are accessories for equipment such as computers or cameras, for example,” Cecilion explained.
“Most crisis years are not bad. Obviously there is a limit, since in 2002 the entire economy was in bad shape and we had practically no business for four months, but there are opportunities when the economy seeks recovery,” he explained.
He also said that “there are different speeds” and that corporate consumption recovers much faster than personal consumption.
Source: Ambito
