What’s new on Debt and in the Farming Sector

A strike that has changed the economic and political climate.

The farmers’ strike in response to the increase in the export taxes has dominated the economic and political discussions in recent weeks and has generated the largest political crisis in the Kirchner’s era. While the farmers have lifted the strike and the government has maintained the export taxes, the recent events will have a lasting effect on the policy making.

The strike and the accompanied demonstration in the major urban centers have been the most important challenges to the policy of price controls and subsidies that has been one of the main pillars of the economic strategy in the Kirchner period. This policy, which was becoming increasingly ineffective to deal with inflation, is starting to fall apart, and it is not clear whether the government has an alternative policy to address the continuous increases in prices.