In this way, from a scheme with a federal vision, we maintain that Buenos Aires represents a fundamental piece of the machinery destined to motorize the national economy. This requires a strategy that addresses the problems of our sector, as we do at UIPBA, bringing together the entire industry of Buenos Aires with proposals and actions to strengthen each of the productive entities. As we also work in the
incorporation of our partners to the dialogue spaces that deal with fundamental issues for the sustained growth of the sector, maintaining a relationship with the Provincial Government and with the National Government through the Argentine Industrial Union. UIPBA celebrated this Sunday 44 years promoting the participation of the private sector in industrial development.
This articulation between the industrial associations and the public sector allowed us to emerge stronger from complex moments. As evidenced in the positive statistics of economic recovery that drive production in Buenos Aires. The strong traction exerted by our province on the productive apparatus is quantifiable if we look at the most recent data recorded on foreign trade.
For example, in February, the exports of the Buenos Aires industry totaled 2,500 million dollars, marking an increase of 50.3% year-on-year, mainly with the promotion of primary products and the category of fuels and energy. These increases are repeated in contrast to pre-pandemic levels, where exports rose 44.8% in year-on-year terms above February 2020.
On the other hand, in the province, exports of industrial origin accumulated an increase of 22.7% in the year-on-year comparison in the first two months of 2022, with all items included in the upward movement. In sum, these manufactures and those of agricultural origin showed an increase of 26.1% in February in the year-on-year comparison, thus maintaining the positive trend of 2021.
From the UIPBA we believe that it is a priority to deepen this line of work, to continue promoting all kinds of progress. To this end, last year we signed a cooperation agreement with the American Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Florida, United States. The understanding allowed favoring, assisting and promoting exports of products from the province of Buenos Aires.
Similarly, we affirm that for the industry to continue developing, it is vitally important to stimulate Internal market. In this sense, when analyzing the data on private consumption in Buenos Aires territory, it is observed that total sales in supermarkets in February rose by 8.7% in year-on-year terms and 3.8 percentage points compared to the same month of 2020.
Until February, this indicator reached the ninth consecutive month on the rise. However, a certain gap in consumption is perceptible with respect to the rapid recovery of the industry. For this reason we urge continue strengthening the domestic market, in order to sustain increases such as those presented by items such as Electronics and household items, Greengrocers and greengrocers, and Beverages and Meats, who led the upward movement in that period.
Closely related to consumption are indicators such as employment and unemployment. Within this measurement, it can be seen that in January more than 31,000 jobs in the private industrial sector of the province, a figure that is equivalent to an increase of 2.8% in the interannual comparison. The new positions represented 44% of the total of those that emerged around the Buenos Aires private sector, which were more than 70,000.
Regarding the unemployment rate in the Buenos Aires labor market, which was 8.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, there were reductions both in the year-on-year comparison and in contrast to the same quarter of 2019, in tune with the recovery of economic activity. In the first case, the decrease was 5.9 percentage points, while for the second it reached 2.6 percent versus the fourth quarter of 2019.
Finally, it is essential to remember the data on sectoral activity in Buenos Aires, which in 2021 expanded 15.4%, with a peak in November. The decline in December was due to phenomena such as absenteeism caused by the third wave of Covid, among other causes linked to the summer season, such as vacations.
Thus, although local industrial production decreased by 3.2% in January compared to the end of the year, it grew by 2.4% year-on-year and even 1.1% compared to the same month of 2020. In this dynamic they pulled upward Chemical products, Non-metallic minerals, Food and beverages and Machinery and equipment.
By virtue of this, it is urgent to continue multiplying efforts to promote the sectoral activity of our province, which plays a leading role in the revitalization of the Argentine economy. The industry is fundamental in the generation of foreign currency as well as in the creation of genuine employment that stimulates consumption. A local community with a strong industry causes other sectors to grow and develop as well.
The experience that these 44 years have given us since the formation of the UIPBA allow us to project and affirm that, in order for the industry to continue growing, in addition to predictability, the stimulation of consumption and the ability to access foreign currency to enable the importation of inputs necessary for productionother far-reaching measures will have to be taken.
With this panorama, then, it will be essential to differentiate the tax regime by sector and by ability to pay, as well as to generate a new regulatory framework related to labor that adjusts to the new jobs and is equally beneficial for both the employer. as for the employee, among other solutions according to these times. The possibility of strengthening a virtuous circle that consolidates the economic emancipation of the country will depend on this, to a great extent, with the activity of Buenos Aires in an assured role of protagonist.
President of the Industrial Union of the Province of Buenos Aires.
Source: Ambito
