July 2, 2023, 4:28 PM
July 2, 2023, 4:28 PM
The mayor of the city of Tarija and president of the Association of Municipalities of Bolivia (AMB), Johnny Torres, said that they will ask government authorities for information on the possible conclusion of the gas sale contract native to Argentina.
According to the building authority, there is concern about the effect that it can generate if it stops exporting to the neighboring country because the Municipal Governments benefit from the Direct Tax on Hydrocarbons (IDH).
“We are going to request official information from the national governmentHe has to tell us what we are going to do and where the circumstance is going. Although it is true that Argentina wants to shorten the contract by 2024, but it is still in force,” Torres responded to a query from EL DEBER about the conclusion of the contract that establishes shipments of up to 27 million cubic meters per day (MMm3/d) and in Currently, an average of 7 MMm3/d is exported.
According to a report from the National Gas Regulatory Entity (Enargas), the Bolivian gas imports fell in the last days after starting this month above 8 MMm3/d.
On Wednesday it was 6.7 MMm3/d, on Thursday 6.9 MMm3/d, on Friday 7.2 MMm3/d and yesterday 7.7 MMm3/d.
“Actually the announcement to conclude the contract is from ArgentinaWe hope that this is not the case and I hope that the Bolivian government can salvage that sales contract, but it will depend on the volumes. We are concerned because the drop in the sale of natural gas affects the producing departments that receive Royalties and IDH and Municipal Governments,” Mayor Torres reaffirmed.
He added that the municipality of Cercado (Tarija), for example, until 2016 he received Bs 100 million for IDH and this year it does not exceed Bs 30 million.
A few days ago, the Spanish newspaper EL PAÍS warned that the decrease in $us 600 million that enter from Argentina for the export of natural gas will be a hard blow while Bolivia lives its first economic crisis in two decades.
