The president of the Confederação Empresarial de Portugal (CIP) said on Friday that the measure announced by the government to reduce VAT on essential goods is “adapted”, but “late”, arguing that the tax imposed on Portuguese families and businesses is imposed “was excessive”. “.
“At a time of enormous difficulties and even greater uncertainty, the reduction of VAT on essential goods seems appropriate, albeit late”said António Saraiva in response to the support measures announced by the government this Friday.
Responding to the Lusa bureau, the president of CIP stressed that he had warned the government “in due time” that while the public finance balance was “extremely relevant”, the pressure on households and businesses “makes this measure essential and urgent made”.
“The tax that Portugal imposes on companies and households has already been called excessive compared to our competitors”he defended, emphasizing that inflation “made this consideration even clearer”.
“It’s time to turn gears”added Antonio Saraiva.
The government announced “additional aid” in the order of €2.5 billion, including zero VAT on some essential foodstuffs, a one percent increase in public administration, as well as various aids for the most vulnerable families and for the agricultural production.
The measures were announced this Friday at a joint press conference of Presidency Ministers Mariana Vieira da Silva, Finance, Fernando Medina, and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, which took place in Lisbon, to present the new aid package to tackle the rising cost of living.
During a parliamentary debate on Thursday, the prime minister announced that his government would work with agents in the food chain to bring down the price of food products, conceding a cut in VAT.
Common Front says new salary increase will not restore purchasing power
The Common Front of Public Administration Trade Unions believes that the additional 1% salary increase announced by the government to respond to inflation is a “palliative” far from replacing the loss of purchasing power.
The measures announced by the government this Friday to mitigate the impact of the cost of living increase, including a new 1% wage increase for civil servants, “remain deeply inadequate given the real needs at hand,” the government said. leader of the Common Front Alcides Teles, talking to Lusa.
“Workers lost wages in 2022 and will continue to lose wages in 2023, despite these mitigation measures that the government came to present today”considered Alcides Teles.
The trade unionist said inflation was 7.8% in 2022 and public administration workers received a 0.9% salary increase, meaning “they lost 6.9% of their salary in the past year”.
Already in 2023, with the salary updates and the new increase in the meal allowance, from 5.20 to 6 euros, the government now points to a growth of 4.1%, “which is far from replacing what was lost” , as inflation higher, said the leader of the Common Front.
“We understand that there are conditions and it has been proven today that there are conditions, there is money. When there is money, work and workers are valued, at least in what they have lost and that is why we have accepted the proposal of the common front of at least 100 euros per employee.”
Regarding the increase in the value of the food subsidy, the union leader indicated that “it is an increase of 80 cents a day”, which is equivalent to “one coffee”.
PRO.VAR wants to reduce VAT on catering and close the covid-19 file
The association PRO.VAR, coming from the hospitality sector, defended the reduction of VAT in the sector and the closure of the covid-19 file without losses, following the measures taken by the government to combat the crisis announced this Friday .
“In response to the measures presented today, PRO.VAR calls for two measures, the reduction of VAT on catering and the closure of the Covid-19 pandemic file, with zero losses”can be read in a statement sent to Lusa by PRO.VAR – Associação Nacional de Restaurantes – Association for the Defense, Promotion and Innovation of Portuguese Restaurants.
The association believes that “the reduction of VAT on catering, in the food component, should have been considered at the same time as the reduction of VAT on food products”.
“The government, by only reducing VAT on food products, has a discouraging effect on consumption in restaurants”something that, according to PRO.VAR, will “be another contributor to the loss of competitiveness of the activity and of the tourism sector in general, the increase in bankruptcies and the dismissal of thousands of employees”.
For PRO.VAR, the VAT reduction on catering would have two positive effects: “the viability of the company, since the measure will make it possible to reduce the negative impact of inflation on raw materials and other production costs”, and “a reduction in consumer prices”.
“Another demand from the sector concerns the compensation of losses during the period of the covid-19 pandemic”referring to the association that the aid “turned out to be scarce or never arrived”, and that “the restaurants are waiting for the final bills to close this file”.
“Businessmen complain about the heavy losses they have suffered due to the reduced activity, because of the restrictions, reminding the government that they have made irresponsible and risky management decisions and they would never have done it if not for the express indication of the government, which had promised that once the pandemic was over, they would be compensated for the losses”refers to PRO.VAR.
Pointing out that the sector “does not claim loss of profit, but the compensation of losses”, the association proposes to the government “a formula that allows the recalculation of support under APOIAR for restaurants during the covid period” – 19 pandemic, through an analysis equation, taking into account the losses in the years 2020 and 2021, taking into account the 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2022 (post-pandemic) balances as the basis for the calculation”.
CAP considers 140 million euros from the government as “good announcement” to support production
The President of the Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP), Eduardo Oliveira e Sousa, regarded the 140 million euros in aid for agricultural production that will be allocated this year as “good announcement” by the government.
“At the moment it is an announcement, so now we need to know what sector it is, what sectors it is, in what form this support will or will not be available and when”the president of CAP told journalists, on the sidelines of a demonstration of farmers in Évora.
Despite the fact that it is still no more than an advertisement, “it is already a good advertisement for another reason”, the same director emphasized.
“It’s just that the one who announced it is the finance minister [Fernando Medina] and that is why he is a minister in whom we have confidence, because he has nothing to do with the Minister of Agriculture.” Maria do Céu Antunes, he emphasized.
Therefore, he continued, “it may be that at last the value of agriculture is brought to the forefront of the importance of the government’s work.”
Asked if he fears that these 140 million supporters are nothing more than a promise, Eduardo Oliveira e Sousa stressed that it was “an announcement that has some consistency, because the Prime Minister [António Costa] spoke in parliament two days ago precisely about support for production”.
“And I just feel like it wasn’t announced by him because he’s in Brussels, so let’s hope this is a good announcement”insisted.
When asked to comment on whether the Minister of Agriculture should have been present at this press conference, namely at the announcement of the aid of 140 million euros for agricultural production, Eduardo Oliveira e Sousa was compelling.
“I don’t think it’s worth it. We’ve had nothing to expect from the Agriculture Minister lately”he said.
Nutritionists welcome the reduction of VAT to zero on a basket of essential goods
The president of the Association of Nutritionists considered the reduction of VAT to zero in a basket of essential goods as “a good measure” to control “the rise in prices” of food, the rise of which determines the food choices of the population.
“It is with great satisfaction that we have noted the Government’s notice of zero VAT on an essential food basket”told Lusa news agency Alexandra Bento, who proposed to parliament in October, when the state budget for 2023 was being discussed, a VAT exemption for foods considered essential, such as bread, fruits and vegetables, to promote the right to sufficient food for the population to ensure.
For the president of nutritionists, the measure announced by Finance Minister Fernando Medina on Friday is “a good measure to somehow control the rise in food prices”.
He also believed that “the good news” is that the measure is in place during the period when prices should be stable.
“What has been passed on to the Portuguese and what is an innovative solution, which has somehow not yet been put into practice in any other country, and which, in addition to reducing VAT to zero on the basket of food that is considered essential at the same time as we understand there’s going to be an effort to make an agreement with manufacturing and distribution so that in this truly collaborative effort prices remain stable over time so that what happened, for example, does not happen in neighboring Spain”he stressed.
The chairman went on to say that it is “with pleasure that the Order of Nutritionists sees this news”, because the price of products “determines a lot” the food choices of the population.
“If we can predict, if we can get food prices to be stable over time, we will certainly all benefit when we buy our food”.
Asked about the products that will be included in the basket, the chairman said that these will be those that are included in the Portuguese food wheel and are essential for proper nutrition. “Portuguese Tradition”.
“I think these vectors should be taken into account and I believe so. The healthy, the national and the traditional should be on this basis and anyone who looks at the food wheel can certainly think of the foods that are in this basket with essential food”explained Alexandra Bento.
Source: DN
