In an attempt to stop the drain at the Central Bank international reserves, the government has decided to take the 20 percent income tax advance to 35 percent for all credit and debit card purchases made abroad. The move will also involve the purchase of dollars for Argentineans travelling abroad with the US currency climbing now to 8.322 pesos.
“We will protect our reserves. We will not destine them to sumptuary actions,” Jorge Capitanich had already warned in his first brief to the press after being appointed cabinet chief.
The 3550 resolution issued by the AFIP tax bureau and that was published at the Official Gazette today, will allow the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner administration to tighten controls on tourists paying for their abroad purchases at official dollar rates only till yesterday.
Following October’s midterms when Kirchnerism lost some key electoral districts, the government decided on a cabinet reshuffle that took ex governor of the Chaco province to head Ms. Fernández’s ministerial team and Axel Kicillof to be appointed as Economy Minister, both officials publicly affirming that “productive investment” will be a priority in their agenda ever since taking office.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald