Nothing new. The meeting that the representatives of the sector had with the Governmentthis Thursday, to agree on drought relief measures, left no certainties on what was stated by the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa promised to announce next Wednesday, February 1st.
Perhaps in anticipation of a relative advance in the talks that began on Friday at the Castelar headquarters of INTA, of the meeting held at the Ministry of Agriculture Only two owners of the Liaison Table participated: Jorge Chemes (CRA) and Elbio Laucirica (CONINAGRO). Also present were the secretary of the Argentine Rural Society (SRA), Charles Odriozola and the technical-economic advisor of the Argentine Agricultural Federation (FAA), Matias Surt.
Juan Manuel Rossi, from the Federation of Federated Cooperatives (FECOFE) and Irene Orozco, from the Federation of Family Nuclear Agricultural Organizations (FONAF), represented the Agrifood Table.
On behalf of the government, the meeting was chaired by the Minister of Agriculture, Juan José Bahillowho was accompanied by officials from this portfolio and by representatives of the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) and from National Bank; in both cases second row.
The official argument relating to the poor definition of what could be offered by the State to interested producers is this “It was a technical meeting”and therefore “it is not possible to specify the measures that then they will announce those responsible”.
In other words, it seems that only Sergio Massa can decide and communicate the measures. Such a position is also a way to reduce the authority of other officials and also to delay time.
In the absence of definitions, ruralists reiterated their claims, without losing expectations, but asking for speed. Chemes said he worked in detail on the tax and credit measures that he discussed last Friday with Massa at Castelar’s INTA.
He underlined it they called for tax breaks for disaster areas, full reopening of the meat market and unification of the exchange ratebecause “even in the presence of an emergency scenario, we do not neglect all the other structural aspects, such as the historic claim of the withheld. He stressed that “they need to be addressed, because without these conditions we would not need emergency measures as profound as the ones we are asking for”.
Laucirica saw the officials as “prepared to ask for tax cuts or access to credit that we’ve asked for,” but stressed they shouldn’t delay. “We want the help to be expedited, because we have noticed a lot of slowness so that the solutions reach the producers,” he said.
Source: Clarin
