Misery spreads across Argentina. Photo: Martin Zabala/Xinhua

The recession to which the Milei government subjected the middle and lower classes can be clearly seen in the 18% drop in purchases in supermarkets, grocery stores and neighborhood markets last December and 13.9% when comparing total sales for the year with the 2023. This is one of the worst hits in consumption in more than two decades in Argentina.

The study by specialized consultancy Scentia, published by the newspaper PĆ”gina12 on Wednesday (15), refutes the allegation made with great fuss the day before by the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, that finances are going through a ā€œstrong recoveryā€ and that ā€œat contrary to other opportunitiesā€, the real income of the population is growing, as is credit to the private sector.

Unfortunately, the reality is very different. The Scentia report points out that in 2024 consumption closed with consecutive drops in every month, always being lower than the previous year.
The doubled prices and extremely high salaries, added to the 248.2% adjustment in public services, had a devastating impact, reducing the size of shopping carts and baskets, leaving less and less space for purchasing food and other premium items. need.

In December 2023, purchases had already been affected by the devaluation and price deregulation implemented by Milei a few days after taking office. Last year, the internal market suffered from the seismic shock of the neoliberal policy of demolition of the State.

Retraction reveals economic crisis

The decline in annual consumption reveals a scenario of economic crisis that the government cannot deny, particularly when it comes to items such as frozen foods (8.6%), food (9.5%), breakfast and snacks (12 .6%), clothing and household cleaning (13.9%) and even hygiene and cosmetics (17%). Not to mention the drop in items such as non-alcoholic drinks (18.3%), chocolates and sweets (18.6%) or alcoholic drinks (19.6%), left aside in the fight for survival.

According to the Scentia report, the contraction in consumption occurred homogeneously, proven in all geographic parts of the country. In supermarket chains and self-service stores, the decline was similar, around 17.3% and 18.7%, respectively, in December. Meanwhile, in the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires (Amba) the decline of 19.7% exceeded that of 16.8% in the interior.
Master in political economy and professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires, Luis Campos assesses that the main problem over the last year was the ā€œadjustment program implemented by the government, which directly affected the situation of workersā€.

In an exclusive interview with Hora do Povo, the researcher from the Institute of Studies and Training of the Central Workers of Argentina (CTA) pointed out that the official data itself recognizes that ā€œthere are salary levels such as those in the public sector that have registered a drop in real terms of 15% compared to what they received a year agoā€.

Thus, even if some have managed, at the cost of immense pressure, to recover part of their lost wages, ā€œothers are far belowā€. Furthermore, he considered, ā€œthe cost of public services has risen too much, causing the remaining resources to be smaller, causing a retraction in consumptionā€.

Reduction of jobs

Although official data does not indicate a drop of the magnitude recorded by Scentia, said the professor, ā€œthe decline in employment levelsā€ is more than evident. ā€œThere was a reduction of more than 200 thousand formal jobs, which represents a drop of 2%, a very large percentage for the last yearā€, he highlighted.

ā€œThe cost is very high, a heavy recession, especially due to the increase in poverty in the first half of the year, which jumped from 40% to almost 50%, a growth of 10%, a very strong setback in people’s living conditions, worsening social tensionsā€, denounced Luis Campos.
For the professor, on behalf of half a dozen, ā€œwe are living in a moment of exchange rate appreciation that makes life very expensive for Argentines and anyone who comes to the countryā€.

He adds that ā€œthis will make the tourism account very deficient because there is a part of the population that is going to Brazil, Chile, Uruguay or Paraguay, which are much cheaperā€, he explained.

The problem, he emphasized, ā€œis that things have become cheap at the expense of unemployment, deindustrialization and denationalization, especially in the textile, metal-mechanical, automotive and tire industriesā€.

The root of the problem, explained Campos, ā€œis that we have a government of large local corporations, of ten or 20, no more, that own Argentina in alliance with sectors of international financial capitalā€.

Campos emphasizes that this is the ā€œmain political support of this government, which relies on employees of these companies and their accounting lawyers to advise on administration. Itā€™s a co-opted governmentā€, he condemned.

Source: vermelho.org.br



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