'AFIP can't force Malvinas lenders to operate in pesos,' tax agency says

Amid criticism by opposition sectors, the AFIP national tax bureau explained why trips to Malvinas Islands as well as expenses in the South Atlantic archipelago are included in the new 20 per cent regime for foreign credit card purchases.

After AFIP’s head Ricardo Echegaray ratified the decision, the agency released a statement saying that it can not “oblige lenders installed in the Malvinas Islands to carry out their operations in pesos” and that the use of Argentina’s currency in the disputed territories will be accomplished “once the UK abides by the United Nations resolutions and, in a peaceful way, acknowledges the sovereignty” of Argentina “over the Malvinas Islands.”

According to the AFIP, "geopolitical matters" are not controlled by the organism run by Echegaray and must be setted by “international law”, responding also to media versions that flared up the controversy over Echegaray’s statements that new AFIP’s resolutions span trips and purchases to the Islands.

Opposition leaders actually questioned the official with Radical Party for the province of Jujuy Miguel Giubergia calling on his resignation. “Echegaray must leave the AFIP today for stupid or treaitor,” Giubergia said and added that the head of the tax agency “admitted” that “the Malvinas Islands are not Argentinean for the AFIP, regardless of all the diplomatic efforts” carried out by Argentina over the past years.

And raising even more the tone of his criticism, the opposition MP accused Echegaray of “recognizing the British sovereignty over Malvinas”.