As the Minister of Economy himself has been marking, the Government has set itself the objective of slowing down inflation by one percentage point per two-month period. After parking it at an average 5% during last November and December, the expectation is that in the first three months of 2023 it will be around 4%, knowing that in March due to seasonal reasons there could be a jump compared to January and February.
With this baseline scenario, meetings with mass consumption companies and supermarkets to renew Fair Prices will begin in the coming days. This program has a basket of 2,000 products that remain unchanged for 90 days. The Secretary of Commerce led by Matías Tombolini will seek to sustain this policy, although there will be updates in the values at the beginning of the new tranche, as was the case with Precios Cuidados. They also consider the possibility of rotating some items according to what is negotiated with each firm, but always with the idea that there is a reference on the shelf that does not change for three months.
The official plan also has something that the Economy considers more relevant in terms of the impact on the consumer price index than that basket. These are another 50,000 products for which an increase limit was agreed. That ceiling is so far 4%, which they baptized as the “four by four” plan. Massa will look for it to be below it as of March to align expectations around the target set for the period, closer to 3%.
In any case, in the Palacio de Hacienda they insist that the strategy is “comprehensive”. Therefore, they maintain that “the agreements collaborate with the deceleration of inflation”, but they clarify that they will not have the expected effect if reserves are not accumulated in the Central Bank or if the fiscal front is not ordered, two other issues that they occupy for these reasons. hours to the economic team.
Compliance Monitoring
In the Government they are satisfied with the level of compliance that the Fair Prices program has shown up to now. “In relation to the values that we find in the gondolas, we are 88% compliant in the basket of 2,000 fixed and 81% in the products that must move with the 4% path,” a source explained to this medium. up to date with official reports.
At the same time, they lowered the tone of the discussion that was installed around the presumed participation of the unions in price controls. “Of course, the responsibility and power to enforce the agreements is ours, but that does not mean that consumer associations or unions cannot provide us with information,” they remarked from Commerce.
After all, the initial proposal was that: sit companies, workers and consumers at the same table. Something that was also reflected on the day the plan was presented with the photo of the main leaders in the industrial sector, supermarkets and the head of the food industry, Héctor Morcillo.
Source: Ambito
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