He value of a prepaid medicine fee Its impact on the total salary would decrease with the latest changes proposed by the Ministry of Commerce to alleviate the impact of the sharp rise in prices that occurred after the deregulation of the sector implemented by the government of Javier Milei.
This service, as estimated the economist Nadin Argañaraz, represented about a 18% percent of the formal salary average in December 2023 and It became 30% in April this year as a consequence of the increase registered as a result of the deregulation of the sector implemented by the government of Javier Milei.
It happens that prepaid medicine fees have increased on average by 151% since December of last year, against a accumulated inflation for that period of 90.2% in the same period, considering from December to March, inclusive.
Commerce implemented measures that require roll back the increases to the December 2023 price given the excessive increase that companies had applied. This was a consequence of a precautionary measure taken by the Defense of Competition. From now on, prepaid payments must return to the rate from three months ago plus the accumulated inflation of January, February, March and April.
The new formula for the prepaid fee
And the prepaid companies must take as a basis for the increases in the installments of the next six months the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is measured by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) and salaries have been growing below it.
With this decision, the The weight of prepaid payments in the salary would mean 22% of the total Argañaraz calculated. The beneficiaries will be the users of the seven companies covered by the official provision, which implies a drop in the quota of 33%, according to official estimates, and around 27%, as calculated by Argañaraz.
However, the measure applies for the next six monthsperiod in which the National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC) must issue a ruling on the issue.
What can happen with the Commerce brake on prepaids
It is worth mentioning that the measure applies only to a group of prepaid and the deputies and consumer associations are working to bring them all together and to include the refund of what was overbilled.
However, the ruling party hopes that the prepaid companies “are going to appeal the precautionary measure”. That means that the judges of the civil and commercial appeals chamber will review it, but the logical thing would be for the justice system to maintain it.
In that case, it is still not so clear whether the amount corresponding to the excessive increase. “The return of the increases is not within the scope of powers of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce,” Commerce reported.
Source: Ambito
