“Obviously, if an agreement is not reached, we will have to apply the laws. It is something that I try to prevent, because I believe in social agreements,” said the official.
Feletti anticipated that entrepreneurs in the mass consumer goods sector will send “a counter offer” to the official decision to freeze the prices of 1,247 products for 90 days on Friday.
“For now there is resistance in the producers. We are negotiating. I take Monday as a deadline so that in one direction or another it can be closed, but this cannot continue. The social balance of Argentina is broken. The food basket is worn to the salary, not even the parity can stand, “he stressed, in radio statements.
In that sense, he emphasized: “Today the discussion we are having is to guarantee supply and prices for a good level of consumption in this last quarter. This is the most immediate, most urgent challenge.”
Feletti said that, if an agreement is not reached with the businessmen, the supply law and “non-consensual maximum price policies will be applied.”
This law was enacted in 1974, during the last government of Juan Perón and was modified in 2014: it empowers the National State to intervene in the markets to set prices and profit margins when it deems it necessary.
It also allows you to apply sanctions, suspend businesses and carry out searches and procedures in industrial establishments without a court order.
Feletti admitted: “The attempt to order a price policy generates discomfort. It is business behavior. If there is discomfort in the employers, there is more discomfort in the people.”
In addition, he commented: “Among food suppliers and marketers there are no more than 30 companies. The concentration has a benefit, which are few, and a damage, which is powerful.”
On Wednesday, the Minister of Internal Trade met with representatives of the main food companies, to which he proposed a price freeze for three months.
As he said: “So far this month there is a very large price increase. Detergent increased 82%, all increases greater than 10%. We see a shock in October and we say enough.”
Consequently, he insisted: “Entrepreneurs are going to have to win by quantity and not by price.”
The INDEC revealed on Thursday that September inflation climbed to 3.5%, which accumulates a rise of 37% so far this year.
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