Due to high inflation, the government is asking for support to renew the prices of care

In a lunch that lasted almost 3 hours, the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, the head of the BCRA, Miguel Pesce, and the Secretary of Internal Trade, Guillermo Hang, asked the mass consumer companies for “accompaniment and patience” to pass through the situation. The first thing has to do with the renewal of the Service Prices. The second, with difficulties in importing goods due to a lack of dollars.

The meeting was attended by senior executives from Arcor, Molinos, Unilever, Coca-Cola, La Serenissima, Procter & Gamble and Quilmes. Guzmán referred to the economic context and Pesce, in turn, explained that energy imports have distorted the trade balance and estimated that “the situation will calm down” from September.

From the private sector they agree that the call was surprising and that they were not aware of the agenda to be discussed, in the end some have interpreted it as a gesture of support for the Hang, which from this Monday will begin to define the new Care Prices basket, which should come into effect with the new values ​​on 7 July. Today that basket has 1,321 products and Hang’s idea is to shrink it and remove products that aren’t considered essential.

Consumer goods producers, in turn, are asking for adjustments outside what has been agreed (a cap of 3% per quarter) due to accelerating inflation and pressure on costs. Regarding the negotiations of the program, Hang stressed that “next week he could present a proposal from the Secretariat” and expressed his desire to “reach a consensus to strengthen the pricing policy”.

The companies stressed that “the atmosphere of the meeting was relaxed and friendly” and that there were no specific announcements. But it was much longer, with Guzmán as the main protagonist. Finally, the participation of Hang is not surprising, who was on the board of the Central Bank until last month when Guzmán himself called him to replace the resigning Roberto Feletti.

The new Secretary of Commerce is aligned with Guzmán and also under his orbit. Previously it depended on the Ministry of Productive Development. The Hang has ratified from the beginning all the recipes applied by Feletti (careful prices, proximity baskets and fresh products, wheat and oil trust). All this despite the lack of results.

Unlike its predecessor, Hang cultivates a low profile. However, he clarified that his main concern is the lack of many products that make up the Care Prices in the gondola and negotiates with the companies the possibility of withdrawing part of the program, in exchange for guaranteeing normal supply. But that’s not the only thing.

There are other distortions that have persisted since Paula Español administered the anti-inflation legislation: the main one is the price gap between supermarkets and neighborhood businesses (warehouses, Chinese cafeterias), which has widened with the escalation. of inflation.

Another point of discussion is the supply of the products that make up the so-called proximity baskets, they are two and contain 60 basic items each. And so far, despite the government’s efforts, they have never worked, in this regard Hang has asked companies to submit proposals to expand the formula throughout the national territory.