Hey pearl
now you can help subsidise all these nice South Americans you were so
worried about
Now you can revel in the fact that Argentinian soya has gone up and this
money will go to help the poor.

Isn't it nice to know you have such moral suppliers, so reliable and so keen
to serve your interests

Jim Webster
http://www.abcmoney.co.uk/news/1120074898.htm

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFX) - Argentina's government unveiled a plan
Thursday to fight inflation on basic consumer foods, saying it would
subsidize some supermarket goods with money raised by a higher export tax on
soybeans.

The move, in a South American farm country that is the world's top soy meal
exporter, triggered protests by farmers and grain exporters.


It was the latest step in inflation-fighting efforts by the government of
President Nestor Kirchner.

Inflation for all 2006 neared 10 percent and Kirchner, a left-leaning member
of the ruling Peronist party now facing an election year, has vowed to keep
prices in check for consumers still recovering from a deep 2001-2002
economic crisis.

Economy Minister Felisa Miceli said the government would raise the tax on
soybeans and soybean products from an existing 24 percent to 27.5 percent.

The added revenue, she said, would go toward subsidies for producers of key
basic foodstuffs.

She said the measure would raise an additional $100 million in the coming
year for the subsidy program for products ranging from wheat flour to dairy,
pork and poultry.

Argentines for 11 years until December 2001 had their peso currency pegged
by law at 1-to-1 with the dollar, but the crisis that year prompted a more
than 70 percent devaluation of the local money and many wages remain badly
eroded.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.