Imports: the Government recognizes that there are "trout managers", but minimized the complaints of irregularities

In the midst of denouncing the appearance of "trout managers" to unlock imports with the supposed consent of the authorities, the Government acknowledged the existence of scams that were denounced before the Court last February, but it distanced itself from the irregularities and suggested

this imports will be lower this year due to lower growth, despite the claims of companies to double them.

"In the vast majority of cases,

In the case that was reported, a criminal complaint was made because they brought documentation and the prosecutor's office required it, we have an open channel for complaints that often come to nothing due to lack of evidence, now exist and have always existed in all levels," they pointed out from the economic team.

In this way, they sought to tone down the complaints that were reported by La Nación about

in exchange for approvals that come from the Ministry of Economy, AFIP and Customs.

This situation led Sergio Massa to order a complaint three weeks ago, for which two people who charged for their false influence to approve import procedures were arrested.

Since October,

, a scheme that added the intervention of Commerce, AFIP, Customs and the Central Bank.

The shortage of foreign currency led Massa to activate the swap with China, explore a loan with banks without results so far and seek financing for imports in Brazil, where the Secretary of Commerce, Matías Tombolini, is to negotiate it.

According to a report from the Ministry of Economy, from October 17 to February 23,

for US$ 27,000 million, which represents 76% of the total amount requested and an increase of 11% compared to the same period of the previous year.

And of the almost 22,000 companies that submitted orders -mostly SMEs- 19,000 were approved.

The official data, however, contrasts with the "multiple restrictions linked to foreign trade" that the Association of Argentine Businessmen (AEA) questioned this Wednesday.

The slowness of the procedures and the need for advance payments to import led to a meeting last week with the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) and the Chamber of the Food Industry (Copal).

The UIA reported in January that

Tombolini and his Undersecretary for Business Policy and Management, Germán Cervantes, informed the businessmen that they had approved

the previous weekend, almost 10% of what had been authorized since October.

Cervantes, a man from Massa's kidney, is key to the businessmen for having the final signature for the authorization.

"We told them that we had different data and urgent claims to produce," they said from the entity. 

In a scenario in which exports are expected to drop by US$ 15,000 million due to the drought, Massa asked the chambers for projections to "plan" access to dollars, but was surprised with the orders in 2023: COPAL asked

, 54% in construction, 28% in chemicals, while the UIA 118% more in food and beverages, 33% in automobiles, 31% in agricultural machinery and 85% in energy inputs.

"We are going to correct deviations, it is crazy,"

they pointed out in Economy.

There, they foresee a lower level of imports this year in line with an economy that will grow by 2% -less than half that in 2022-, although they foresee that in February they will rise to

, above US$5.384 million. from January.

The fall in activity impacted in December in a drop of up to 10% year-on-year in the import of capital and intermediate goods, but officials link it to idle capacity and delays.

AQ

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