Argentina's Macri shelves sales taxes as he seeks to cut left's lead
AUGUST 15, 2019 / 9:07 AM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO
Walter Bianchi, Cassandra Garrison
5 MIN READ
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Mauricio Macri, smarting from a bruising primary election loss, announced on Thursday an end to sales taxes on basic food products until the end of the year in a bid to salvage his re-election prospects and end an economic crisis.
In a televised address to the nation, Macri announced that sales taxes of around 21 percent would be axed on basic foodstuffs - including bread, sugar, milk, oil, flour, pasta, eggs and rice - to soften the impact of an IMF-backed austerity program on the growing ranks of the poor.
The tax cut represents the boldest of a series of measures Macri has unveiled since his overwhelming defeat on Sunday by the leftist opposition, as he seeks to bolster his waning support and revive Latin America’s third-largest economy.
The shelving of the sales taxes was an awkward about-turn for a president who took office in 2015 vowing to slash public subsidies and to correct what he called years of leftist economic mismanagement.
More:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-election/argentinas-macri-shelves-sales-taxes-as-he-seeks-to-cut-lefts-lead-idUKKCN1V51AV
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