From 1:30 p.m., the Ministers of Economy and Productive Development, Martin Guzman Y Matias Kulfas, together with the Secretary of Internal Trade, Roberto Feletti, and the president of the Central Bank (BCRA), Miguel PesceThey have lunch with businessmen on the terraces of the Palacio de Hacienda.
As reported from the Palacio de Hacienda, the pricing policy is one of the topics discussed on the occasion. Thus, he seeks to reissue his idea of reaching a price and wage agreement, just as I had tried in 2021.
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The guests of the business party are referents of seven mass consumption companies.
- Laura Barnator, general manager of Unilever for Argentina and Uruguay.
- Gabriela Bardin, general manager of P&G for Argentina.
- Gonzalo Beans, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Legal and Compliance of Quilmes.
- Abelardo Gudiño, general manager of Coke for Argentina and Uruguay.
- Maximiliano Lapidus, Manager of the Interior area of The Serene.
- Agustin Llanos, CEO of Rio de la Plata mills.
On the verge of expiration of the price freeze
The meeting with mass consumer entrepreneurs comes a few days after the expiration of the 90-day price freeze that Roberto Feletti ordered at the end of October. That kept prices fixed of between 1300 and 1400 products -changes were made during its validity- expires next Friday, January 7.
Both Martín Guzmán and the Secretary of Internal Trade already anticipated that there will be no abrupt exit of the freeze but, on the contrary, the intention of the Government is renegotiate the listing prices, in such a way as to mitigate the impact of the update in the pockets.
While the negotiation with Argentina continues, the IMF stated in a statement that controlling domestic inflation requires a multiple focus, which includes a reduction in monetary financing of the fiscal deficit, an adequate monetary policy with positive real interest rates and a price and wage coordination.
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The idea of coordinate prices and wages as an anti-inflationary policy it is not new. In 2021, Guzmán tried to coordinate expectations with a similar strategy, which proposed inflation of 29% and a salary increase that was a few points above.
The Minister of Economy declared on several occasions that, despite the fact that unions they acted responsibly at the close of joint, inflation continued its upward course, among other things, by the increase in international food prices.
