The national government will allocate $70,000 million to assist and help agricultural producers affected by the drought, through revolving funds and credits at subsidized rates announced last Tuesday as part of a package of measures for the sector.
The funds will come to a greater extent from Banco Nación, an entity that will make available to farmers affected by the lack of rain $50,000 million in credits at a subsidized rate, in which the Ministry of Economy will take charge of 15 points.
Of those 15 points, 10 will be borne by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, which will require an investment of $10,000 million, and 5 will correspond to the Ministry of Industry and Productive Development for $5,000 million, the agricultural ministry informed Télam. .
In this way, there will be two lines of credit at a subsidized rate for those producers included in the emergency.
As the president of Banco Nación, Silvina Batakis, commented during the week, there is “a specific line for the SME agricultural sector that is in force and has an average rate of 40.6%.”
As part of the measures, “these rates of origin will be sustained” without modifying them, and “a grace period of one year will be granted so that the producers have that period to rebuild their income and begin to repay (the credit) only the the next year”.
Another measure – Batakis specified – is a new line where they will make $20,000 million available at an interest rate of 49.5%, and which also has a one-year grace period.
It is in these loans where Agriculture and Industry will contribute $15,000 million to subsidize 15 points in the rate.
To the credit package must be added the revolving funds for $5,000 million to reach small producers, which will be channeled through agreements with provinces, municipalities and/or agricultural cooperatives, a system that aims to assist 18,000 small producers, amount which is contributed from the agricultural portfolio.
Thus, the national State will invest $70,000 million in financial assistance and subsidized credits for agriculture, without taking into account the measures that will have a fiscal impact announced last Tuesday by the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, such as the suspension of the payment of the advance of Profits and of the judgments of fiscal execution and of the embargo of Current Accounts.
In addition, the forced sale of property will be taken into account for the calculation of income taxes and the approval of emergency requests in process at the Ministry of Agriculture, among other points.
According to Massa, after making the announcements in a meeting he held with the heads of the entities that are members of the Liaison Table and the Agrifood Table, these benefits could reach “a universe of 54,100 producers in Argentina who are somehow going to be covered by these measures”.
“We all have the responsibility to work together, beyond the thoughts of each one and the role of each one, to lend them a hand and help them overcome this aggravated climatic circumstance this last year but which has been recurring with a change in the climate schedule, on the one hand, but on the other with a strong impact of the drought in the last year,” added the head of the Palacio de Hacienda.
In fact, the agricultural entities agreed with the battery of announcements made by Massa, which earned the leaders of the Liaison Table strong criticism from the most radicalized sectors of the sector, such as the self-convened or the so-called “Independence Group “.
Argentina is facing one of the worst droughts in recent times, which worsened during the last semester of 2022, in a context where the La Niña climate phenomenon is developing for the third consecutive time in the country.
This produced a severe impact on winter crops; According to the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange (BCBA), the wheat harvest fell 10 million tons compared to last season to 12.4 million tons, while falls of 7.5 million tons are expected in corn and 2 .3 million tons of soybeans.
Likewise, it generated a strong impact on regional economies, especially those located in the eastern part of the country, and also on livestock, although for the moment it is impossible to obtain a concrete analysis of the losses.
According to a report from the Rosario Stock Exchange (BCR), the decrease in the income of soybean, corn and wheat producers could reach US$ 10,425 million due to the drought.
Of this total, it is expected that the losses of the productive sector in harvested hectares will reach US$8,530 million, while in hectares planted and not harvested it will be US$757 million, and in hectares not planted due to lack of humidity in US$ 1,139 million.
