At the end of June, the extension imposed by the Government of Javier Milei to a measure by the previous government that makes loans more expensive for the agricultural sector expires, and the Government of Santa Fe and Córdoba have already expressed their disagreement with a hypothetical extension.
The Minister of Bioagroindustry of the province of Córdoba, Sergio Busso, requested the authorities of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) not to extend Communication “A” 7931 regarding the regulations on “Interest rates in credit”, which expires on the 30th of this month.
These regulations require producers who have more than 5% of the stock from the last soybean harvest to pay a higher interest rate. Specifically, those who are in this situation must pay an interest higher than the established rate; which is another punishment to production.
“This measure means a higher financial cost and threatens the growth of the sector. The Government has the possibility of relieving producers, of removing part of the pressure that the countryside has been under for years,” said the Minister of Bioagroindustry of Córdoba, Sergio Busso. And he added: “it would be a clear signal for the countryside and would offer relief to producers.”
The authorities of the Córdoba Liaison Commission endorsed the portfolio’s request. “We need competitive rates to increase production. It is a financial trap that punishes production and the decision not to extend it would be positive,” José Luis Careggio, Vanesa Padulles, Patricio Kilmurray and Albina Capellán, from the provincial Liaison Commission, agreed.
Busso insisted on the need for producers to freely access available credit, under the same conditions as other economic activities. “The countryside needs a gesture. If progress is made with this measure, producers will be incentivized. The next step has to be the removal of all withholdings,” he said.
In the same sense, the Minister of Economy of Santa Fe Pablo Olivares and the Minister of Productive Development of that same province Gustavo Puccini sent a letter to the president of the Central, Santiago Bausili, to analyze the situation.
“This regulation was adopted by the previous management of the BCRA, invoking as an objective the need to liquidate grains. The current management of the Central Bank has been extending this measure, which results in harmful collateral effects for provincial economic activity, especially through the increase in the cost of credit for certain producers. In this way, producers’ access to financing lines with some type of promotion is restricted, increasing the cost of bank financing and distorting the functioning of the markets, by attacking the normal development of the companies. productive activities,” they stated.
