Carlos Fernandez, the head of Argentina’s tax collection agency, took over as economic minister on Friday after his predecessor was sacked amid spiraling inflation and anger among farmers.
Fernandez, 54, an expert on state finance, was sworn in by Argentine President Cristina Kirchner at the presidential palace, replacing Martin Lousteau, who left after four months on the job.
“It is a challenge,” Fernandez, who is close to Kirchner’s husband, former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner told reporters. “I will continue to work to ensure that things go well.”
Lousteau, 36, left his post as the government struggles to resolve a bitter dispute with farmers who staged a crippling three-week strike last month over a tax hike on soybean exports.
On April 2, the farmers declared a one-month halt to their strike, which was the first major test of the new, four-month-old Kirchner government and, some say, sharply eroded its authority.
During their 21-day protest, thousands of farmers erected some 400 roadblocks in central Argentina, leading to unprecedented shortages of food and raw materials in major urban centers.
The raising of export tariffs on soya products caused the strike.
Farmers said that, along with income taxes, transport costs and the high cost of land, it would push many out of business.
Soybeans are dubbed “green gold” in Argentina for the sky-high prices they fetch on the world commodity market.
Half of Argentina’s 30 million hectares of farmland are used for soybeans, with an export income of US$24 billion a year.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
RSS