Source: AFP
Paola Basso sighs as she hastily sticks prices on top of each other in a Buenos Aires suburb as the cost of goods soars after the election of libertarian outsider Javier Millay.
“It doesn’t stop,” Basso said.
Annual inflation in Argentina is already at 143 percent, and prices have risen further after the outgoing government this week eased price controls on basic goods — which Milei is expected to scrap.
“Customers are asking us to … buy eggs individually. It hurts, people are in need and it’s like taking away their dignity, but the prices are crazy,” said the grocer in Moron, a working-class neighborhood in the western suburbs.
On the shelves, some products have more than four labels, testifying to the dizzying bloat.
Source: AFP
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“These are crazy days,” said Paola’s husband, Fernando Savore, vice president of the Buenos Aires grocers’ federation.
“Although we’ve already changed prices last week. We’ve seen increases of about 25 to 30 percent at wholesalers” since the election.
He said pasta has increased by 50% and cleaning products by 30%.
Expected depreciation
Millay, a champion of the free market who opposes government intervention in the economy, will take office on December 10.
The impending end of the deal on price controls is further boosting inflation, said economist Hernan Letcher.
Source: AFP
“The increase will be stronger next month because the market expects a significant devaluation (of the peso) when Milei takes office, and therefore the possibility of an inflationary resurgence,” he told AFP.
The government in recent years has maintained tight controls on the peso’s exchange rate, at great cost to the state, and Millay said he would push to eliminate those controls.
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‘It’s exhausting’
At the Moron supermarket, customer Mario Amor, 70, scrutinizes the price tags.
“It’s gone up a lot again. I’m looking to see who has the best prices. I don’t know where to buy,” he said, leaving with empty bags.
In another corridor, seamstress Clara Tedesco, 60, was “horrified” to see that the price of cheese “has gone up again this week”.
“It’s exhausting, you analyze the prices, you go from one place to another. You compare, calculate and come back. Buying groceries is harder than finding a spouse.”
In the Mataderos neighborhood, the butchers leave their tables empty.
“We don’t waste time writing them anymore, it changes every couple of days,” said one store manager, Evelyn Garcia.
“Customers know that, they don’t get angry. There’s more sadness than anger,” he said.
In beef-crazy Argentina, sales of more expensive cuts of meat have declined in favor of lower-quality cuts or cheaper pork chops.
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Source: AFP
“People have already changed their habits so there’s still some meat on their plates. Now, I don’t know what they’re going to do. Everything has gone up more than 10 percent this week,” Evelyn said. whose shop was empty.
At a flea market near Moron, Clarisa Gomez dusts off a crate of kiwifruit at the fruit and vegetable stand, where prices have all skyrocketed this week.
“People are buying two apples, one banana. If this continues, I’ll have to sell them all at once.”
Source: AFP