The Secretary of Commerce of the Nation, Matias Tomboliniparticipated in an informative meeting of the Commerce Commission of the National Chamber of Deputies and during the meeting defended the Fair Prices program and economic management against the attacks of opposition legislators.
The official maintained that the initiative promoted by the Argentine government “is not and could not be the solution to inflation, since the solution is of a macroeconomic order,” but stressed that it currently reaches some 600 companies from 17 different sectors with a total of more than 50 thousand products.
“The Secretariat has carried out 8,319 inspections in the August-December period and 1,630 in the January period and the days to February,” added the Argentine official and revealed that more than 15,000 web inspections were carried out in 2022 and more others. 10 thousand so far this year. in that framework HE 31,982 fines and 5,754 on-site records were drawn upfor a total of 492 million pesos collected for infractions.
Tombolini also came out at the crossroads of the radical deputy of Evolución Radical martin tetaz, who had warned that the government has “an anti-export bias” and stressed that foreign sales “were a record in Argentina in 2022.” In the same sense, he later pointed to the representative of the United Republicans (Together for Change) Ricardo Lopez Murphy, who had criticized “the phenomenal exchange rate delay” and the supposed “restriction on access to inputs that is becoming more dramatic every month.” “In particular, I see a brutal distortion in the administration of foreign trade,” said the economist, who claimed to know “what criteria are used to grant permission to some and not to others” in terms of imports.
Tombolini acknowledged that “multiple exchange rates are a problem for Argentina” and that “without a doubt the gap generates tensions in the demand for imports”, but assured that “imports in Argentina are not prohibited” and stressed that in the year 2022 Argentina imported 81.5 billion dollars, 29% more than the previous year. “There are 21,463 companies that applied for SIRA, of which 97% of them were SMEs and 82% of the applications were approved until January. In February the ratio grew more,” concluded the Secretary of Commerce.
