President Luis Lacalle Pou confirmed that the Executive power works on the implementation of new measures to mitigate the effect of the exchange difference between Uruguay and Argentina, that visibly affects the country’s coastline in terms of sales, economic activity and employment.
The crisis that the Uruguayan coast is experiencing is already one of the main problems and challenges that the government faces, not only because of the need to act on it – although there is nothing more that can be done than to alleviate a situation that is generated, mainly, by the situation in Argentina—but also because of the effect it has on the economy at the national level. For this reason, the president Lacalle Pou met with the minister of Economy and Finance (MEF), Azucena Arbelecheto analyze the possibility of extending measures to tourism and service sectors.
According to the president, what motivates him to take action on the matter is “the issue of smuggling, it is no longer just the people who go and consume for themselves, the people who bring their kilos for the daily, everyday life, but the smuggling. Then in coordination with the Police, with the Armed forces and with the Customs, “We are going to make the control a little more intensive these days.”
In that sense, Lacalle Pou He emphasized that, although there is no 0 kilo limit, people can get supplies from the other side of the border — something that is directly affected by the lower sales of local businesses, as well as the diversion of consumption in general. —; “What cannot happen is that there are people who are smuggling.”
Regarding the measures proposed by both coastal merchants, particularly the possibility of enabling the microimports, The president acknowledged that it is an idea that he shares but that “its implementation is not easy.” “What we have tried to do is facilitate the importation of products in terms of the procedures carried out in the different ministries,” added the president, at a press conference during the inauguration of the M’Bopicuá Biopark Visitor Center.
Likewise, he denied that the return of the VAT, another of the measures requested from the region.
The complaints of coastal merchants
Last week, merchants Black river They demanded that President Lacalle Pou provide “solutions” to the “very serious” situation caused by the exchange difference with Argentina and asked for measures mainly to stop smuggling.
As explained by the president of the Río Negro Business Association, William roses, The sector sees with concern “a lot of illegal merchandise crossing” and asked the president “to see that the effort being made to control Customs is not sufficient”.
Although he said that “the main thing is the smuggling”, The merchant clarified that “there are many more things to talk about” and highlighted that “the local situation here is very serious.”
For their part, the merchants of Leap and Paysandu They also demanded greater measures from the national government, in a context in which sales of businesses in this department fell 22% between January and September. One of the proposals was the possibility of receiving fiscal benefits —discounts on VAT and Imesi for certain products in the basic family basket—through the applications Tuapp who already uses the Ministry of Social Development (Mides). This idea would have already been discarded by Lacalle Pou and the government’s economic team.
Other measures requested were the microimport, to make certain products cheaper; and the fuel price regulation to make them more competitive compared to Argentina —although the neighboring country has the cheapest fuel in the region, while Uruguay has the most expensive one.
Source: Ambito
