Fair prices and a cap on the increase in private schools / Argentina News

It was decided that the increases in fees in private schools with some type of state subsidy, will be ruled by the Government

By iProfessional

02/04/2023 – 12:08 p.m.

During an act together with the CGT, the UIA, businessmen and some pro-government mayors, the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massathrew a Expanded version of Fair Prices.

It includes a cap on the increase in fees for private schools. “The agreement includes the school basket and the price of private schools throughout Argentina,” said the official.

“There were provinces that had already authorized increases of up to 40% for March, 18% or 24%,” Massa explained.

It is in this sense that it was decided that the increases in fees in private schools with some kind of state subsidy, will be from 16.5% in March.

Between April and Junewould be authorized to increase prices between a 3.2%-3.5% in each of those months.

New Fair Prices: what punishments will companies have

Fair Prices now has around 2,000 productswith the participation of 100 companies, which represent 86% of mass consumption products that include food, personal hygiene, cleaning supplies and some associated with the basic basket.

The Government launched another version of Fair Prices and there will be a limit to the increase in private schools

It was made clear that another 50,000 products will only increase by 3.2% per monthfrom this month to next June.

That is to say, several points less than the inflation index proposed by the private consultancies for the whole year and that anticipate that in January it began with an average close to 6%with a similar projection for February, impacted especially by the rise in public services, transportation, rents and expenses, among other items.

Massa deepened the Fair Prices scheme after studies and talks that he carried out with Matías Tombolini, the current Secretary of Commerce, with whom they agreed that there will be new announcements during the remainder of the year to address the same mechanism in other items and sectors of the economy.

But, in addition to extending the scheme to the entire economy, Massa will deepen controls and inspections, either with its own officials or with unions and employees contributed by municipalities and provinces.

In the same way, he promised “more prizes” for those who comply with the agreements. By case, the food and personal hygiene and cleaning sectors will have the possibility of accessing a credit program at subsidized rates to increase the production of capital goods.

To avoid truckers in the gondolas, Massa implemented a digital tool. It will control prices in real time.

The benefit is added to the accelerated regime of access to the single market and free exchange to guarantee the intermediate goods in production that must be imported.

“We have to make the effort together, avoiding mischiefcommitting ourselves and complying as Federico said, because ultimately that commitment is virtuous if we increase the production of goods,” Massa warned.

And to avoid the fear that employers represent the presence of “vests from a municipality, a union”, an online verification system of 15 million data per day was implemented, within the framework of a system developed by ARSAT and Amazon to daily monitoring of price movement throughout the country.

Massa understands that with this new mechanism established for Fair Prices, macroeconomics will be given certainty from the fiscal orderof the capacity to increase exports and accumulate reserves to strengthen the national currency and reduce the country’s debt in macroeconomic terms.

In the same way, the private negotiation policies with the producers involved and the “rewards and punishments” strategies will be maintained through which access to foreign currency for imports is facilitated to the companies that participate in the programs, but they are also deepened controls and inspections to enforce the guidelines of the policies that are carried out.