The national government carries out negotiations with companies to start a new stage of the program Fair Prices that will be extended until next June and that will include more items and a reduction in the average increase from 4% to 3.2%.
According to official sources informed Télam, within the framework of the road map proposed by the head of the Palace of Finance, Sergio Massa, The Fair Prices program will be expanded, so the agreement will be larger because it will include more sectors of the economy and production.
Fair Prices is a voluntary agreement, with which companies have the commitment to comply, and as in the current scheme, it will include several actors: businessmen, workers, municipalities, consumer defense associations and citizens.
At the moment, the items that it would include are mass consumption, sports shoes, cell phones and small household appliances, clothing, textiles, widespread inputs, to which more sectors will surely be incorporated during this week.
From the Ministry of Economy they indicated that the decision to advance the agreements was made after an evaluation of the fiscal goals and accumulation of reserves, understanding that the conditions are given to homogenize all the agreements within the framework of an average path and expanding the participation of sectors and companies, as well as extending the validity period until next June 30.
In mass consumption, within the program the 2,000 products at a fixed price will be maintained, although there could be a rotation in the items that make up the offer, while the rest will follow a guideline of 3.2% average increase, less than 4 % fixed in the initial understanding.
In this way, the objective is to generate predictability for the next four months as more than 450 companies assume the commitment to comply with an average price path of 3.2% until June.
The Secretary of Commerce, Matías Tomobolini, said last Friday that The Fair Prices program will add some 124 companies, which will reach 482 participants and detailed that “in terms of stock it is around 70%, signage 77%, and in fixed prices 98%, the biggest challenge of this is that the product is in the gondola, that the supply is fulfilled”.
In a dialogue with Radio con Vos, Tombolini remarked that “in terms of inflation we are busy, because it worries us, working with all the sectors we can to try to achieve a downward path and that prices increase more and more slowly than the previous month”. .
In terms of control, since Tombolini’s management began 7,770 inspections were carried out, in supermarkets and wholesalers 4,488, from Now 12 there were 2,051 inspections and more than 1,813 in fixed points of Fair Prices.
“Fines for 440 million pesos were drawn up that were pending treatment, and 15 days ago we deployed a self-service chain in 300 stores throughout the country, 79 minutes were drawn up and 3 stores were closed,” the secretary explained.
In the first and current stage of Fair Prices, which began in November of last year, a basket of fixed prices was established for some two thousand essential products through voluntary agreements between the Government and producing and marketing companies.
In turn, the agreement established a price path so that another 30,000 essential products do not exceed a 4% monthly increase in this first stage.
In accordance with the provisions of Resolution 1077 published in the Official Gazette in December of last year, the Fair Prices program will remain in force until December 31, 2023.
The original agreement was joined at the end of November by the oil companies, which agreed that the fuels participate in the Fair Prices program with monthly increases of up to 4% in December, January and February, and 3.8% in March of this year.
In addition, There are agreements in force in the areas of textiles, clothing, footwear, cell phones, supplies, and medicines.
In December, the consumer price index increased 5.1% and accumulated a rise of 94.8% throughout 2022.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec), in December the 4.7% rise registered by the measurement in the category of food and non-alcoholic beverages was the one that had the greatest impact in most regions.
In 2022, the annual rise of 120.8% in clothing and footwear stood out; 108.8% in bars and restaurants; and 95% for food and non-alcoholic beverages.
