Matías Tombolini will have control over prices and also the key to authorizing imports

Matías Tombolini, the brand new Secretary of Commerce appointed by Sergio Massa’s management, will have an extremely delicate task for economic activity: import authorization.

This will be so from the official decision of unify the portfolios of Internal and foreign trade, which until now was under the orbit of the Secretary of Industry, in charge of Ariel Schale.

As Massa himself explains on social media, «the management of internal and foreign trade is unified, with the aim of giving order at the table of the Argentines and recover an adequate pricing system that allows it find out how much things are worth“.

Within the Foreign Trade area, the authorization to enter goods from abroad is provided for in art Comprehensive Import Monitoring System (SIMI)implemented by joint resolution of AFIP and the Secretary of Commerce (4185/2018).

When the system was implemented, the goal was to make it simpler and more transparent the administrative procedure for the control of imports and, at the same time, guaranteeing compliance with the safety standards required by imported products.

Now, according to the new organization chart to be implemented in Economics, the economist of the Renewal Front will take care of it key link within the Ministry of Economy. Especially in recent times, when the shortage of dollars in the coffers of the Central Bank it obliges the government to limit the outflow of foreign exchange through imports and tighten controls.

These restrictions have produced inconvenience for the importation of inputs in various branches of industry, particularly into automotive, electronics and clothing as these sectors were running out of stock to produce. This situation implies recurring meetings between officials and businessmen in which industrialists ask for greater flexibility in importing the raw materials they need. It is estimated that 80% of imports are inputs for production.

In June, after Matías Kulfas’ departure from the Ministry of Production and when Daniel Scioli was appointed to control the area, the vice president Cristina Kirchner denounced an “import festival”when reference is made to the lack of control over the work of companies.

According to the data reported by INDEC in June, imports amounted to 8,547 million dollars and exports reached $ 8,432 million. both registered all-time highs.

Trade (exports plus imports) increased by 31.4% compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching a record level of $ 16,979 million and the trade balance recorded a deficit of $ 115 million.

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