Guzmán in a cooperative of Admiral Brown.
The bill circulates for a year in official offices. But in the last few hours it has gained new momentum with the support of the Minister of Economy. It is a system to promote the participation of the “popular economy” in government purchases and its financing through a mandatory quotas to be lent by banksamong other mechanisms.
Martín Guzmán revived the initiative on Wednesday on his landing at the headquarters of a group of cooperatives in Admiral Brown, accompanied by the Minister of Social Development, Juan Zabaleta, and the leaders of the Evita Movement and Barrios de Pie, Emilio Pérsico and Daniel Menéndez, who offered to him of their support and asked him to expedite initiatives for the sector.
In this framework, the minister emphasized the “Regime for the Promotion of the Popular Economy”, where his portfolio works with Social Development and will soon reach Congress. Guzmán’s team, in fact, was in charge of designing the new regulatory framework to assist informal workers through the banking system and a trust.
According to the draft, “financial entities regulated by the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) must allocate at least one and fifty percent (1.50%) of their deposits from the non-financial private sector in pesosin providing bank credit to productive projects that have a social impact ”on cooperatives and prominent entrepreneurs.
At that percentage, Banks can allocate the sum to the quota account of productive financing lines for MSMEs and, on the other hand, reduce the minimum capital requirement according to the amount of credits granted to the informal sector. Last night, financial entities were unaware that the initiative had been consulted.
The goal is that bakeries, family farmers and textiles, among other businesses, can purchase inputs and machinery, with rates provided by the State. Today, they are funded by non-bank credits at rates of 150%when banks charge interest close to 47.50% for working capital and the state sector provides subsidized loans at 25%.
“We talked to several banks, none of them wanted to say where to allocate resources, but this is the only way to open a small financial channel for the popular economy, ”he said Paul Chena, Director of Social Economy in Social Development. And he assured that its control is an “obligation” of the BCRA, as is the case in the line of productive investment for SMEs.
Besides, create a trust with subsidized rates and guarantees to support productive credits, training and technical assistance. It will be overseen by Economy, Social Development, ANSES and INAES, while BICE will act as trustee and will be funded by contributions from the Treasury, provinces, Caba and public bodies.
Guzmán also showed interest in the regime given in the draft, which 10% of State contracts must benefit the products and services of the country of origin from cooperatives and MiPyMes, which are priced up to 20% higher than non -origin countries, and up to 15% when such offers are made by another company.
Depending on the project, the State shall advance 20% of the amount established in the details to the businesses of the popular economy for working capital and supplies. And half of the guarantees for hiring will be needed, a requirement that does not include many cooperatives, at the same time they will have facilities for paying taxes.
Now, according to Social Development calculations, there are 8 million informal workers outside the private and state sectors. In some provinces, this sector goes beyond the formal. The idea is that the public sector supplies itself through them with basic supplies, such as yerba mate, even overalls and furniture, as happened in the pandemic with the purchase of chinstraps.
Productive Associations of the Popular Economy (APEP) may also participate in purchasing and funding. The new legal figure will be drawn under the orbit of the INAES and will be more simplified than cooperativeswith a smaller number of members (2 or more individuals from the age of 16) and outside the Labor Contract Law.
Source: Clarin
