Argentina’s faltering economy has hit its motor industry hard. Now residents of one city have had to donate their cars to help the police force stay afloat.
Argentina’s faltering economy has hit its motor industry hard. Now residents of one city have had to donate their cars to help the police force stay afloat.
The police in the city of Junin, in the Pampa grasslands near Buenos Aires, can no longer afford to run their vehicles and have asked residents to help out by lending them cars to patrol the area. The local population is around 93 000.
Resident Oscar Pinto told local radio that a community fund had been started to help collect petrol money for the new collection of makeshift police vehicles. He said that most of the police force’s fleet was either too old or broken.
“We had this crime wave, and when we talked with police they said they didn’t have enough cars or money for gasoline,” Pinto said. “So I said I’d loan them my car.”
According to , the motor industry is carrying the brunt of Argentina’s falling economy. The country has been in deep recession for the last four years, the peso is in tatters and matters have been made worse in the last few months by major changes in government. Consumers were forced to limit the amount of money they withdrew from their accounts. This resulted in widespread riots.
Passenger car output in the first four months of the year was down 51,4 per cent down on last year, dropping from 56 092 units to 27 234.
The light truck sector was 50,7 per cent down at 11 169 from 22 666 and Medium/Heavy Trucks dropped by 57,5 per cent to just 1 430 from 3 378.
