The Government has not purchased a single school kit from mypes

“We hope to issue the emergency decree with the million school kits in a maximum of two weeks. We announce it, we do it, (because this) is a management of actions and not words. That is why we confirm that the million kits are going. What we must do is make the mypes the partner of the State,” said the head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), Alex Contreras Miranda, on January 10.

Less than a month before the start of classes, not a single kit has been purchased from these types of companies, which according to the minister are “the heart of the economic reactivation.”

They were just words

But the promise of the purchase of school kits It does not come from January, but dates back to November 2023, as it was part of the package of 25 measures that the Government presented to get the country out of recession and which it called Plan Unidos.

Susana Saldaña, president of the Board of Directors at Asociación Empresarial Gamarra Perú, explains that the problem is not only that the purchase of any kit has not been completed to date, but that there are no indications of any progress to make this process viable.

“This will work as long as the money goes from the MEF to the Foncodes account. When the money arrives, both Foncodes and Produce will prepare the execution core, the technical file, and the whole process will begin. But now there is absolutely nothing. Once again, the minister mocks the sector“said the leader.

Furthermore, Saldaña explains that the importance of these purchases being made to the mypes is that it benefits not only the businessmen of Gamarra, but also the footwear sector, since the kits are made up of a complete uniform, shoes and a backpack. This involves at least the acquisition of 4 million items of clothing.

In GamarraBefore the pandemic, there were 5,000 mypes dedicated 100% to the production of school uniforms. Today there are only 2,500 left who are still fighting. In addition, the school campaign represented 10% of the emporium’s sales for the year, but after 2020 they do not even reach 5%, according to the leader.

For his part, Daniel Hermoza, director of Mypes Unidas del Perú, recently explained in Nativa that Mypes closed 2023 very hard hitin the south due to social conflict and in the north due to the impact of Cyclone Yakuso they could not raise capital that would allow them to start 2024 with optimism.

And state purchases?

In May 2023, Minister Contreras also set himself within two weeks to launch the purchase of 4 million items of clothing for the Ministry of Defense (Mindef), a process that has not advanced either.

This way, Mypes have detected at least 20 unfulfilled reactivation promises from the MEF and around 40 from the Government. The same president Dina Boluarte He announced in his message for National Holidays that in 2023 more than S/550 million would be made in state purchases from MSEs, “but so far not a single sol has been purchased,” concludes Saldaña.

The word

Susana Saldaña, president of the Board of Directors at the Gamarra Perú Business Association

“We had 5,000 mypes that were 100% dedicated, in Gamarra alone, to the school uniform sector. The pandemic reduced them to their minimum expression.”