Thursday, December 29, 2022 | 10:15 a.m.
After a year of inflation, January arrives with at least seven confirmed increases in the country. The first month of the new year will be marked by the rise in the rates of public services, provided for in the subsidy removal scheme, but there will also be a strong influence of fuel, prepaid and rent, among other items.
After closing 2022 with high inflation rates, January arrives with at least seven confirmed increases that will also put pressure on prices and the economy of the company.
The first month of the new year will be marked by the rise in the rates of public services, provided for in the subsidy removal scheme, but there will also be a strong influence of fuel, prepaid and rent, among other items.
One by one, the increases that are already confirmed for January:
1. Naphthas
In the last days of November, the Government closed an agreement with the referents of the main oil companies in the country -YPF, Shell, Trafigura, Axion- to establish a ceiling for the increases that may be applied between December and March.
According to this agreement, in the first three months, the oil companies will be able to raise their prices by 4% while in the third month of next year they will be able to do so by 3.8%. Although this is the “ceiling” that companies can apply, in December it increased by 4%, in line with what was agreed during the first days of the month.
If the implementation of the agreed 4% is taken into account, the prices to the supplier are as follows for January:
- Super gasoline: $156.93;
- Premium gasoline: $192.19;
- Common diesel $168.61;
- Premium diesel: $229.73
2. Electricity and gas rates
Energy rates will continue with increases in accordance with the segmentation and subsidy removal schemes implemented by the Ministry of Energy.
In this sense, the clients of the highest segment will have an increase of 40% between December and January 2023 and the remaining 40% between February and March.
In the case of natural gas, the reduction of the state contribution for Tier 1 users (high income) is applied as follows: 20% in October, 40% in November and 40% in January 2023.
4. Water fee
Unlike electricity and gas services – where the tariff segmentation is applied according to the income levels and the patrimonial situation of the users – with water, a geographical criterion is taken into account by zones: high, medium and low.
Those who are located in the middle-income areas –around one million users- their bill will only have 20% of the subsidy and from March they will pay the full rate.
5. Rentals
Among the most important expenses of users, rent undoubtedly has a fundamental weight. In this sense, for those who signed a contract on January 1, 2022 and must renew it on the same day of 2023, they must calculate the increase due to the variation of the Index for Leasing Contracts (ICL) that the Central Bank (BCRA) prepares daily ) and combines the evolution of wages and prices
In the first half of January, the increase for tenants who face their annual update under the Rental Contract Index (ICL) will have an increase of up to 83.5%. In other words, a person who today pays $60,000 will pay $110,000. That is the calculation of the economist specialized in housing, Federico González Rouco.
6. Prepaid medicine
This month the second tranche of the increase planned for prepaid medicine will be received. It will be 6.9%, in order to complete the 13.8% that the Government had planned for December.
In addition, as of January 1, prepaid companies must offer their users “identical coverage plans to the one they currently have without copayments, with the inclusion of copayments on first and second level benefits, as of January 1st. at a price of at least 25% less than the plan without copayments”.
7. Monotribute
From January 1, all the parameters of the Monotributo, or Simplified Regime, must be updated. This increase, which occurs in the maximum billing amounts, scales and fees, is governed by the mobility law, the same as for retirees and other allowances paid by ANSES.
Thus, the ceilings and quotas should rise 72.6% from the table in force at the beginning of 2022. But in the middle of the year a modification was made by law of “tax relief” for small taxpayers, which further complicates the calculations, given that the taxpayers of the lowest categories increased the maximum billing amount by 60%, while for others it was lower and the highest category reached 29%.
Thus, from January, monthly fee, the following amounts must be paid in total:
- Category A: $5,754.89, both those that sell goods and those that offer services.
- Category B: $6,435.03 for all small taxpayers on this scale.
- Category C: $7,356.04 for services and $7,232.04 for the sale of products.
- Category D: $8,674.80 for services and $4,979.94 for those who sell products.
- Category E: $11,394.55 (services) and $10,246.48 sale of furniture
- Category F: $13,638.95 for services and for those who sell products, $11,781.54.
- Category G: $15,908.13 for services and $13,414.49 for products.
- Category H: for services (the last scale allowed) $27,813.92. Meanwhile, those who sell goods, $23,207.10.
- Category I: The monthly fee will be $33,360.21.
- Category J: It will be $38,313.09 per month.
- Category K: The monthly fee is $43,305.56 for 2022.
To these values, an extra must be added in the amounts of social work, which will increase, as determined by the 2023 Budget, progressively from $3,000 to $10,000 depending on the category.
Categories A, B and C will not have changes in contributions, but the highest ones will: between D and K there will be an increase in the contribution to social work that will have a strong impact on the final quota of taxpayers.
8. Domestic employment
From January 1, 2023, the second tranche of the new increase for domestic employees will be in force. It will be paid by the hour or at the end of that month or at the beginning of February and implies a 7% increase over November wages. Then 5% will be applied in February and 4% in March.
Thus, in January the minimum wage scales for workers in private homes were as follows:
- Retired supervisors: $684.50 per hour and $85,414 per month;
- Non-retired supervisors: $749.50 per hour and $95,142 per month;
- Personnel for specific tasks with retirement: $647.5 and $79,355;
- Personnel for specific tasks without retirement: $710.50 and $88,335;
- Home: $611.50 and monthly: $77,423.50;
- Assistance and care for retired people: $611.50 and $77,423.50;
- Assistance and care of people without retirement: $684.50 and $86,280;
- Personnel for general tasks with retirement: $567 and $69,626;
- Personnel for general tasks without retirement: $611.50 and $77,423.50.
