Merchants demand greater health controls. They alert that the products that are smuggled are more and more.
The exchange difference with Argentina is still a problem for Uruguayan merchants at the border who now claim that goods such as fuel and, even kilos of beef and fishso they ask that border controls improve for the good of their businesses.
The prices on the other side of the border with Argentina continue to generate economic inconveniences in the businesses of the departments of paysandu and Leap. However, now a new edge has been added where smuggling takes a leading role. The merchants, in dialogue with the Santo y Seña television program on Channel 4, claim that products are being smuggled that even put the health of Uruguayans at risk given the possibility of losing the cold chain, such as meat, or one of the most expensive items, compared to the neighboring country, such as perfumery.
The fuel deserves a separate chapter since the owners of the service stations of Paysandú and Salto declare that sales decreased by 60% when compared to pre-pandemic levels. From the sector, they claim that greater border controls are necessary because smuggling has escalated another step and they are being sold gasoline drums openly on the internet. According to the businessmen, this puts the work of the stationers at risk since the labor force is one of the first to be dispensed with in structures as expensive to maintain as service stations.
Measures that are not enough
Even with the government’s measures to lower fuel prices – such as the reduction of the Internal Specific Tax (imesi) and credit card discounts – reaching a price of 43 pesos per liter, border crossings did not shrink as the price per liter on the other side of the country barely exceeds 17 Uruguayan pesos.
The mayor of Salto, Andrés Lima, had expressed hope with this new fuel price reduction and had highlighted the importance of “dissuading” Uruguayans from crossing “so much” into the province of Between rivers.
Lima recalled that the service station sector was “of the most punished” in the “difficult scenario” of the last few months, with a drop in sales close “at 40%“. The departmental head hopes that “with these new values” the sector can revitalize its dynamics. According to the mayor, it becomes very necessary “stop the massive crossing of so many Uruguayans” to be able to “protect and protect thousands and thousands of businesses”, as well as “tens of thousands of workers”.
The exchange difference pushes unemployment in Salto
In mid-May the National Institute of Statistics (INE) published data on activity, employment and unemployment corresponding to the mobile quarter January-March 2023, where the city of Salto had the highest percentage.
The border city has 14.7% unemployment and 9,900 unemployed people during the reference period. During the previous moving quarter —December 2022 – February 2023— this figure was already 14.2%, the highest in the country.
Source: Ambito
