According to official and private surveys, the slowdown in the food and beverage category continued during the first two weeks of June. The focus of the Economy is on “fiscal order and the accumulation of reserves.”
The data of inflation of May that the INDEC announced on Wednesday brought some relief within the Ministry of Economy. Despite the fact that the consumer price index remains at high levels, it showed a slowdown compared to the previous month. In turn, according to official and private surveys, this trend in the food and beverage category continued during the first two weeks of June. In the Palacio de Hacienda they believe that the harshest effect of the drought has passed and they seek to resume the path of “stabilization”. The focus is on “fiscal order and the accumulation of reserves.”
In the environment of Sergio Massa they assure that one of the reasons that justified the slowdown is that a lesser effect of the drought on prices is beginning to be glimpsed. In this sense, they highlight a break in the trend in meat, fruit and vegetables that had largely justified the jumps that were registered during March and April. Although inflation remains at high levels, for the moment the idea that some opposition leaders installed that this record was going to reach double digits per month is dissipating.
On the contrary, food and beverages moved at a rate of 5.8%, below the general level. In addition, an official survey that records the prices of items that are scanned in supermarket checkout lines shows a slowing trend also in the first days of June. These are products considered “sensitive” due to their strong influence on the basic food basket.
This survey carried out by the Secretary of Commerce shows a movement of 0.2% during the first week of the month for flour, cereals and derivatives, while in the first seven days of May they had registered increases of 1.7% in those same products. . In the case of dairy products, the slowdown was from 2.8% to 0.0%, in oils and butter from 2.3% to 0.8%.
The break in the trend not only coincides with the lower influence of the products affected by the drought. It was also hand in hand with the stability registered in those weeks in the parallel dollars. In the economic team they know it: “It is necessary to continue with the fiscal order, the maintenance of economic activity, employment and the care of international reserves while the effect of the drought on foreign trade is overcome”, they pointed out from the Secretariat of Economic Programming led by Gabriel Rubinstein.
In the Economy they are now seeking, with fewer effects of the climate disaster, to resume the trend that had been registered in November and December, when a gradual reduction in inflation and the exchange rate gap began to be perceived: “We had reached stabilization,” they explain.
Along with the game that is played in the macro, the Ministry of Commerce continues to put the magnifying glass on some specific sectors of the micro, such as textiles. In these days, new agreements of the Fair Prices program will be signed. They will also seek to renew agreements with items such as electronics, motorcycles and appliances, among others.
Source: Ambito
