President Alberto Fernández said this Friday that the rise in international prices as a result of the war in Ukraine “has repercussions in Argentina”, and considered that “the instrument with which internal prices are most easily decoupled from external ones are withholdings “, although he emphasized that an eventual modification depends on the National Congress.
In this context, the President reaffirmed that he will continue “fighting” so that the economic effects of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine “do not negatively affect Argentines” and, in this sense, indicated that he is exploring all options “to find mechanisms so that, internally, do not raise prices as international prices do”.

This was expressed in an interview given this morning to FM Radio Con Vos, in which he stated that the retentions involve “a very sensitive issue for many sectors and is politically exploited by the opposition” and maintained that it exhausts “all possibilities” that it has so that, “seeing the political difficulty, due to how the opposition thinks, of being able to go down that lift.”

Fernandez remarked that he is trying to “talk to all sectors, to find mechanisms so that prices do not rise internally like international ones.”The fact that Russia and Ukraine have left the market subtracts 35% of exportable wheat from the world and, if India is added to this, which decided to suspend its exports to guarantee wheat for its people, this represents 50%,” he explained. Fernández, who considered that the war “is affecting absolutely everyone” and “clearly also in Argentina” because of the shortages.

Likewise, Fernández indicated, about the increases in food prices, there is “a serious problem in decoupling the domestic price from the international price”, and considered that the withholdings could be a measure with that objective, while ruling out that the rise in fertilizers is a problem since, for the president, “they did not rise to the same level as wheat.”

The instrument with which domestic prices are most easily decoupled from international ones is withholdings. Objectively it works like this,” said the President, although he indicated that this instrument is “a legislative issue” and, therefore, needs “consensus” to that eventually Congress “accompanies a modification”.However, at that point, he maintained that the opposition “politically exploits” this issue and added: “I want to remember that the leaders of the opposition went to the Plaza de Mayo less than a month ago to make a tractor hit for the income tax unexpected that not even a farmer pays it because it is intended for legal entities”.

In this context, he pointed out that the opposition “plays politics with this and forgets all rationality on the subject when their voices are essential to make a change.”

With these arguments, Fernández called for “putting on the table” and “finding a way to resolve” the decoupling of prices “with the agreement and decision of those involved.”

“The implementation of decisions is not so easy because the world conditions a lot and there are also interests that condition. I am very clear that I can send an increase in withholdings to Congress, but I am going to lose; I have an entire opposition making tractor hits,” the president stressed.