School basket will cost up to 40% more than in the pre-pandemic campaign

The value of the school basket will have an increase of between 30% to 40%compared to the pre-pandemic, due to the effects of the social upheaval in the country, the increase in import costs, as well as inflation —which already exceeds 8%—, reported the Lima Chamber of Commerce ( CCL).

“This limits the purchasing power of families, who will be forced to do without some products that make up the school basket, (such) as supplies, textbooks, footwear, overalls and uniforms,” ​​said the president of the Small Business Association. (COPE) of the CCL, Rodolfo Ojeda.

He stressed that the school basket comprises on average between 20 to 30 items per student, whose value ranges from S / 200 to S / 800. “This includes a complete kit including school supplies and textbooks, footwear (sneakers) and uniforms (divers); and, although the number of articles has been decreasing due to the issue of educational virtuality, the value of these products has been increasing”, he commented.

As a result of the situation, this year’s school business day could represent 20% of the annual sales of micro and small companies (mypes), when in previous years it was 30%. In this sense, the CCL estimated that the sales of mypes in this campaign “have not taken flight”, since they would only have reached S/700 million, a lower figure than the S/1,400 million reported in 2019 (- fifty%).

Financing for mypes was reduced

In the same way, due to this social crisis, the mypes have been affected with less financing in this school campaign, since it is estimated that the disbursement for working capital of the microfinance institutions would have decreased by 50%.

“For example, in 2019, the municipal savings banks granted mypes for school campaigns around S/3,500 million. However, for this year, that value would barely reach S / 1,750 million, considering that financial entities are being more cautious due to political uncertainty ”, he highlighted.

Likewise, to achieve some profit, Rodolfo Ojeda indicated that The majority of mypes has been choosing to lower the prices of school items in order to cover their fixed costs, such as rents, labor, etc.

Regarding the labor force, it was expected that, for this student economic period, the generation of many temporary jobs with a projection of 5,000 jobs, the aforementioned hiring being an uncertainty.