The Government is concerned about the inflation in food, which accelerated in March, and that is why it combines its fiscal discipline and brake on monetary emission with some less orthodox tools. Among them, the talks with businessmen and supermarkets.
Among other things, the Minister of Economy Luis Caputo asked them to end the promotion policy (such as 2×1 or discounts of 70% or 80% on the second unit), so that the price lists published by the INDEC really match the values that consumers pay.
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This Wednesday, the head of the Treasury Palace celebrated in his account x that two supermarkets changed the way they do promotions. He showed there older and more recent advertisements, in which it is seen that the chains no longer make 2×1, 3×2 or a 70% discount on the second unit, but rather apply the discount directly to the price per item of the items in the same category. TN Several supermarket chains were contacted, but none wanted to give details about the promotions policy.
In his presentation before the businessmen gathered for AmchamCaputo also assured that prices were out of date in dollars because producers They prepared for an economic scenario worse than the one that occurred. For this reason, the Government combined the talks with the harshest signals and decided to facilitate the import of basic basket products.
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The measure will be implemented by the Central Bank, which will give access to dollars to importers so that pay for purchases abroad in 30 days instead of the four installments with deferred payment that applied until now. The list of products that can enter the country with this facility includes: banana, potato, pork, coffee, tuna, cocoa products, insecticides, shampoos and diapers.
They foresee low impact on the measurement of inflation
In a similar way to the opening of imports, the economists consulted by TN They agreed that the impact What promotions can have on measuring inflation is bounded. As a general idea, they agreed that bonuses are not a new phenomenon, but have always been present.
“There is no such thing as ‘measuring inflation well’, it’s not that inflation is an exact number that exists there floating between us. When an indicator is built, a decision is made methodology, which obviously can be more or less criticizable, but which defines the rules under which the phenomenon is measured. That makes the series consistent over time and one can compare. There have always been promotions and they respond to different motivations. It could be interesting to measure the phenomenon, but not capturing it does not imply that inflation is being measured incorrectly,» he considered. Rocio Bisangeconomist Eco Go.
For Maria Castiglionipartner of C&T economic advisorsthe influence of promotions on the measurement of inflation is marginal and short term. In any case, he considered that it can be used by the Government to accompany the transition and record whether prices are indeed decelerating faster. «In general terms, What is important to lower inflation continues to be the fiscal anchor and monetary policywhich is the work that is being done,” he said.
How INDEC measures prices
The Government’s main argument is that the promotions distort the measurement of the consumer price index (CPI) published by INDEC. From the statistical organization they explained to TN that that indicator Reveals prices of observable and comparable products through time; that they are representative of the consumption of that variety; and that they are available for delivery at the time of purchase.
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The polls They are made in all types of commerce, not only in large supermarkets, which are the ones that usually apply aggressive promotions. On that point, the entity does not register promotions available only for certain groups of consumers because, in practice, they are not available to the entire population. This group includes bonuses for clients of a bank or virtual wallet, discounts for retirees or special treatment of 2×1, 3×2 or special discounts on the second unit.
On the contrary, the indicator prepared by Indec yes it takes into account the prices of the ddiscounts or promotions of goods and services available to the entire population of reference and that they are duly identified at points of sale. That is, specific offers on an item or a set of items in the same category (for example, poultry, cleaning supplies, clearance on clothing and footwear at the end of the season).