The government does not reduce the price gap with Argentinabut it expands it, complained the senator Guido Manini Riosleader of Town meetingwho once again proposed the total tax exemption on the coast as a solution to the problems faced by that region of the Uruguay by exchange difference with the neighboring country.
“Clearly the macroeconomic policies that the Uruguayan government is currently carrying out are not helping. More than narrowing the gap, it widens it, ”he said in an interview with Diario de Cambio de Salto.
In the opinion of Manini Ríos, border policies should not only be based on improving prices but also on generating jobs. “Leap has the highest unemployment rates in the country, if we continue giving free zones to the center of Gorlero in east point and we do not do it in Salto, there will continue to be a lack of opportunities, in addition to citizens who settle on the Argentine side,” he said.
The exchange difference with Argentina, which this Monday registered the highest value for the Dolar blue in its history, upon reaching 546 Argentine pesos, in recent months it has motivated waves of Uruguayans who cross into the cities of Colon and Gualeguaychu to make food purchases, at the same time that it has motivated a strong tourist movement towards the neighboring country, generating a deficit of 205 million dollars in that sector.
The exchange rate delay also impacts the coast
“He exchange rate lag evidently continues to worsen and the country is getting more and more expensive, the consequences are logical, commerce, tourism, rural producers, exporters are sinking, clearly more and more jobs are being lost, for the sake of a policy that instead of seeking to reduce the differences to try to retain and for people to buy from the Uruguayan side, it does not do so”, evaluated the senator from Cabildo Abierto.
Manini Ríos recalled that, when the border was still closed by controls during the covid-19 pandemichis party proposed the tax exemption total for all the products that were sold on the Uruguayan side. According to this approach, what the State lost in revenue it gained in the creation of jobs and local commerce.
“They never get to the bottom line. We believe that if the macroeconomy is not changed and prices are not lowered throughout the country, there will be no solutions, at least in the short term, unless there are changes in the policy of other countries and that does not depend on the Uruguayan legislators”, he added.
Source: Ambito
