Ecuador may raise tariffs on 400 imported products

elcomercio.com (machine translated) reported that the Foreign Trade Minister Pablo Campana announced on June 29, 2017, that he plans to raise the tariff of 400 imported products as much as five percentage points. This decision has taken a number of businessmen by surprise. Of the 1,243 imported products under review after the safeguards were removed , about 400 will be assessed “in terms of tariffs” by the Foreign Trade Advisory Council, said yesterday, June 29, 2017, Campana. “If there is a product that today pay the 10%, surely tomorrow pay the 15% of tariffs,” he said. The 400 subheadings (products and product groups) are related to consumer goods, said the Minister and emphasized that they do not include raw materials or capital goods. “It is analyzed to tax those ( products ) that do not affect the popular and solidarity economy”. The official added that the measure, in any case, It will not impact the economy . The announcement generates concern in guilds such as the Federation of Chambers of Commerce. For Patricio Alarcón , president of this guild, the measure will raise the costs of consumer products. Although they may be only five percentage points higher, the manager believes there will be a negative impact. “It’s as if these sectors are taxed with another tax on the exit of foreign exchange (ISD) of 5%, that’s the relationship .” Alarcon said he was surprised that this measure had not been consulted before. “We received this with surprise and we regret that they want to make decisions without consulting us”. Roberto Azpiazu , Executive director of the Ecuadorean Business Committee (CEE), rejected a possible increase in the tariff because this will mean making the economy of the country more expensive . He regretted that the rules of the game were being changed every moment.

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According to Aspizu, this would be back to policy patches and “commercial activity is not for that because it has not yet recovered from a recessive year like 2016.” Minister Campana said that the objective of the measure will be “to promote local production and export, and protect the dollars in the Ecuadorian economy .” Guilds such as the Chamber of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of Pichincha ( Capeipi ) are participants in the imposition of tariffs to restrict purchases from abroad. This group submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Trade to apply tariff measures to 1 500 products; Among them are the 400 categories under analysis of the Ministry. Christian Cisneros , direct from Capeipi, said it is a positive move for the country because it activates production and increases the number of local sales. In addition, it prevents the outflow of foreign exchange and, therefore, supports the domestic industry . Campana insisted that any increase in tariffs on these items “will not detract from the country’s competitiveness, but will protect the Ecuadorian industry, our products and mainly dollarization , which is something that both the public and private sectors Has stated that we must maintain it. ” The holder of foreign trade made the remarks at the end of a tour in the company Aliments SA, located in the route Durán – Tambo, one of the three companies visited yesterday in Durán. There he also referred to the General System of Tariff Preferences (GSP) granted by the United States to Ecuador. The official said he has held meetings on the issue with the country’s ambassador, T odd Chapman. He said that there is Ecuador’s interest and the willingness of the United States to maintain that system of preferences. He announced that in the next week he will travel to Washington and New York to hold meetings aimed at maintaining the GSP. “We must always look for strategies that bring us closer to our first commercial partner,” he said. He announced that in the next week he will travel to Washington and New York to hold meetings aimed at maintaining the GSP. “We must always look for strategies that bring us closer to our first commercial partner,” he said. He announced that in the next week he will travel to Washington and New York to hold meetings aimed at maintaining the GSP. “We must always look for strategies that bring us closer to our first commercial partner,” he said. Read Article