The Ministry of Economy of the Nation is preparing to launch next week, a new program that seeks to slow down the inflation and achieve a rate of less than 4% per month in the first quarter of the year. According to private estimates, the percentage that will be known on February 14 would be between 5% and 6% in January.
Reducing the rate of price increases has become a race against time for the government, which seeks to achieve a inflation that does not exceed 4%, while the expectations of the consultants, as revealed by the Central Bank in the Survey of Market Expectations (REM)anticipates that “it will remain above 5.5% every month, at least until June.”
The relaunch of Fair Prices seeks to quickly attack the inflation through strong controls, according to Sergio Massa’s officials, and it is obvious that the national electoral calendar “tightens the times”, and the objective of recovering real wages, after the 20% drop in the last five years, has become an obsession for the Casa Rosada.
Political analysts close to the government maintain that Sergio Massa’s potential presidential candidacy depends on achieving good results in managing inflationsince the underlying objectives, such as improving actions or meeting goals with the IMF, are not reflected in electoral results.
Among the measures that accompany the Fair Prices Program in terms of control of pricesit will arrive now “The return of 10% of purchases in butcher shops when paid with a debit card”which seeks to alleviate the most vulnerable sectors, but above all to reduce the impact that the rise in the price of meat will have on the basic basket and the inflation index.
