The reduction for final industrial goods will be reduced from 5% to 0%, and in processed inputs it will go from 4% to 3%. There will also be a tiered scheme for export refunds.
In the search for an improvement in the competitiveness of those sectors considered key, the government made the political decision to modify the withholdings (rights of export) and reinstatements of the manufacturing industry. The document that gave rise to this new structure and that for these hours was sent to the different sectors (which Ámbito was able to access), proposes a reduction in the export duties for final goods, from 5% to 0%, and of the manufactured inputs , from 4% to 3%. It also includes increases in refunds with a staggered scheme in which the aliquots grow along with the level of processing.
The proposal prepared by the Ministry of Productive Development based on a joint work carried out at different sectoral tables states that this modification "seeks to encourage the diversification and complexity of the export basket and discourage the primarization of the economy." A high official of the Production portfolio consulted by this means considered "fundamental" the industrial expansion of exports "to end the external restriction".
According to the Government, in August 2018, former President Mauricio Macri reduced by decree by 66% the total amount applied to the policy of export refunds. "This significantly affected the industrial sector, which in 2019 registered the lowest levels of reimbursements for the last twenty years, with a ratio of 0.6%," they point out.
Within the framework of the launch of the private public council for the promotion of exports -of which Ámbito reported yesterday-, the Argentine Industrial Union led by Miguel Acevedo had reiterated the request to increase refunds and lower withholdings.
Now, the scheme that Production has just turned to entities, puts a cap of 2% on the reimbursements to raw materials, which on average had received 2.54 percent. But in turn, it brings the basic supplies that received last year only a 0.12% to 6% and increases the minimum rate of final industrial goods to 6%, when in 2019 they had received only 0.53% on average. The text emphasizes that with the current situation, in percentage terms, raw materials receive the highest effective reimbursements. It also indicates that although exports of final goods were three times higher than those of inputs, the amounts obtained were similar. From the Ministry of Industry, they pointed out to Ámbito that "the focus is on promoting manufactures around natural resources", and they indicated: "Today we are mostly exporting soybeans to feed pigs and if we want to be a developed country, that has to change "
The document that bears the seal of the portfolio that Matías Kulfas conducts proposes to maintain the right to export raw materials at the current level of 5%. Instead, it postulates losses for processed inputs that would go from 4% to 3% and final goods, from 5% to 0. According to government estimates, the fiscal cost for these modifications would be u$s 525 million.
In this way, they trust to solve asymmetries in at least three industrial chains: forestry-industrial, textile-wool and textile-cotton, in which currently some of the inputs with the highest added value pay export duties higher than their materials. cousins.
Days before taking office as minister, Kulfas published an article entitled "The economy after the crack." As they say from his environment, the note synthesizes his thoughts and that of the Callao Group, the political powerhouse he heads. There he states that "the main problem of the Argentine economy is external restriction" and adds that "this leads to the need to prioritize projects that recover the manufacturing fabric and, at the same time, contribute to the generation of a surplus of foreign exchange "
That argument seems to be the motivation for the new proposal that the government will bring to employers, in the context of the shortage of dollars and a growing external debt that, sooner or later, will require disbursements in foreign currency.
By Andres Lerner for Ambito: