From this Wednesday The government will take a new step in its pricing policy AND will update freight rates based on inflation. Thus, after the increases applied in January for the bus ticket in AMBA, from March to December will be added the monthly adjustments linked to the variation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which last January recorded a rise of 6 % and complicated the model provided by the Ministry of Economy.
The move is a major change during negotiations with the IMFsince until now the bus and train ticket had been used as an “anchor” to keep prices regulated Below average. In November, the Government has already advanced in this direction with the prepaid quota, authorizing bimonthly increases of between 5.04 and 7.66% through a cost index adjusted by the CPI with a ceiling of 90% of the recorded wages ( REPEATS).
Then, in December, the Ministry of Transport ordered a 40% increase in the minimum bus fare on the AMBA – it went up to $35 in January and train fare between $17 and $22, and the formula is updated from CPI. Although the calculation will be known in the next few hours, from Transportation confirmed that the increase will be 6%, taking into account the latest inflation data available, since the February figure will only be known in March.
“From March 1st and all the first of each month, the transport tariff will be updated only for the inflation of the previous month with the available information. It is implemented for one year from the validity of the resolution released last December and then we will see who is the government”, say sources from Transport, where negotiations continue for the transfer of bus lines to the City.
The formula will be applied to the “tables” of the tariffs in force which vary according to the line and kilometers in the case of buses and the branch and distance in the case of rail transport, the costs of which have been communicated in the last few hours to the portfolio chaired by Diego Giuliano. Instead, he will be taken into account of the “social attribute”, a 45% discount on the tariff that applies to 12 categories of SUBE beneficiaries, such as housewives.
The details will be officially released in the midst of the conflict sparked by the strike affecting more than 50 lines of the collectives of the AMBA for a claim of the workers of the DOTA Group to demand the payment of a wage debt. The government announced last week that it will grant a total of $28 billion in subsidies to urban and suburban public transport companies in the interior of the country.
The increase in transportation is one of six increases expected in March, together with the gas rate, prepaid cards, rents, employees of private homes and fuel. For February and March, analysts are expecting monthly inflation of around 6% and a year-on-year increase of 100%, after reaching a record 98.8% in January. The government started last year to accelerate the adjustment of regulated services due to the sharp increase in subsidies and requests from the IMF.
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Source: Clarin
