Argentina approves law for controlling prices
Sep 18, 6:45 PM EDT
Argentina approves law for controlling prices
By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA
Associated Press
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Argentina's congress on Thursday approved a law that lets the government intervene in setting prices and profits in an attempt to tackle one of the hemisphere's worst inflation rates.
Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said the measure, approved earlier by the Senate, would defend consumers against "the innumerable abuses we suffer every day on the part of concentrated groups with monopoly power."
But local business leaders said the law is likely to aggravate shortages and inflation by discouraging people from selling price-controlled goods or making investments.
The law gives the state power to set maximum and minimum prices as well as control profit margins. Companies that set prices considered "artificial or unjustified" can be fined. However, the government bowed to earlier complaints by exempting most small and medium companies.
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