The Executive Power announced in the last hours a series of measures related to containing the increase in the cost of certain products of the basic basket. Thus, this Friday, President Luis Lacalle Pou explained that a bill will be sent to Parliament to exempt from VAT, for at least one month, the strip roast, which will mean to the State a tax waiver of between US$ 650 thousand and US$ 1 million.
The president also advanced an agreement with producers to keep the price of bone-in cuts unchanged. Lacalle adheres to the position that the increase in certain products respond to a situation in which several factors are combined, from the international prices paid for meat and other products, which makes exports more attractive, to the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
However, the Popular Participation Movement (MPP) directly linked this phenomenon to the effects of the Urgent Consideration Law, pointing out that famine is “the other face” of the LUC. “In the 135 articles there are provisions that directly affect the rise in consumer prices”, indicated Senator Charles Carrera, in an analysis presented to the sector in which he points directly to the rise in fuels, a main input in the production chain.
Carrera indicated that the increase in fuels has been a constant since the LUC was approved, due to the modification of the pricing system included in that regulation. Also because the Executive Branch seems to have ignored influencing that decision, delegating responsibility for the calculations to the Unit for the Regulation of Energy and Water Services (Ursea).
“This is very harmful because if there is a policy that must be regulated so that the country does not suffer the effects of the global increase in oil, it is precisely the setting of fuel prices,” said. This is one of the aspects that the Broad Front and several social organizations intend to repeal through the referendum on March 27.
Thus, according to Carrera’s analysis, gasoline increased below inflation in the last two years of the Tabaré Vázquez government, but it has a total increase of 36% since March 1, 2020. There the senator detailed with “eloquent numbers” what the effect of this process has been on certain basic products. According to what he said, if you compare 2020 with 2022, sunflower oil is 75% more expensive, a kilo of rice became 34% more expensive, sugar became 43%, minced meat 23% and dry noodles 76%.
Carrera refuted the arguments that the government tries to explain this process. “Now it is argued that it is because of the war, before it was because of the cursed inheritance and new reasons will appear later,” ironized.
Carrera alluded to another “ballast” that directly affects the pockets of the population: the incidence of inflation with respect to wages. “Instead of taking responsibility, the president goes looking for external factors, such as the war between Russia and Ukraine,” questioned.
But, according to the senator’s numbers, long before that conflict, inflation was already above 8%, with salaries and pensions “plunging” and contributing to the increase in poverty. It is undeniable that in Uruguay there is a deterioration in the purchasing power of the population,” said Carrera. A reality that he understands can be discussed by those who make up the “privileged groups” that exist in the country. Something that could be understandable, but that is inexcusable when the indifference comes from the government itself. “A government tailored to the interests of the most powerful, who are the ones who set their political agenda,” said the senator.
Carrera also alluded to the “signs of recovery” in the economy that were mentioned so many times by the government. In this context, for the MPP senator it is “unforgivable” that many Uruguayans have to continue eating in popular pots or that the middle class continues to lose purchasing power, in the midst of a “generalized famine where it is very difficult to make ends meet ”.
The senator questioned that, a few days before the referendum, the government now comes out with “promises of patch proposals” to deal with the situation. “It seems that the popular consultation calls them to look for solutions to avoid an electoral defeat”, said. In his opinion, however, the “true way” for the population to redirect the problem is for the repeal proposal to triumph on Sunday the 27th.
