The Minister of Economy and Finance, Azucena Arbeleche, responded to the request of the Chamber of Senators, which approved a resolution asking the government to eliminate the value-added tax (VAT) on 19 food products to deal with inflation.
The hierarch told the press that “work is being done” so that the purchasing power of consumers “can be maintained” and highlighted what the government believes was a “first stage of economic recovery” that focused on the recovery of job positions. For now, he has not announced any specific measure, and there is nothing to indicate that VAT will be eliminated for the six months that the senators requested.
“The positive at this time is that economic recovery has gone hand in hand with job recovery. The government’s response was to increase employment and we are seeing it and this is confirmed by today’s data,” said the Secretary of State, who took the opportunity to highlight that some 70,000 jobs were created “in the first quarter” of 2022.
The latter was questioned by the former Undersecretary of Economy, Pablo Ferreri, who posted on Twitter: “I understand it is simply a mistake by the minister, but 70,000 jobs were not created in three months, but rather in the last 12 months (comparing the first quarter vs. first quarter 2021), to that we must ‘discount’ the solidarity wages. You have to be careful with ads.
The government is “aware” that salary recovery is “necessary” to replace the loss of purchasing power, so “in the next few days we will come up with concrete measures for Uruguayans.”
The request
Last Tuesday, a formal request from the Executive Branch was unanimously approved in the Senate to remove the value added tax (VAT) on 19 foods for six months, for a period of six months.
The products that the senators believe should be exempt from the tax for that period are: flour, sugar, noodles, rice, oil, salt, polenta, tomato pulp, lentils, beans, powdered milk, eggs, cocoa, coffee , oatmeal, beef (minced, shoulder, ossobuco, brisket), chicken, pork and bread (flute or campaign cookie).
