Resilience of Argentines in the face of hit pockets

Unmarked prices, food that rise from one day to the next, wages that do not allow to reach the end of the month.

That is the daily life of Argentine citizens, who added to the terrible economic situation they have been living for a long time the devaluation of 22% of the official exchange rate established by the Government after the primary elections.

The battered pockets of Argentines, affected by 113.6% year-on-year inflation -60.2% so far in 2023 and with forecasts that in August, with the impact of the devaluation, it will exceed 10%-, they must invent every time more formulas to reach the end of the month.

Those who have a wealthy position take advantage of specific offers or bonuses to collect provisions -for example, they buy meat and freeze it, knowing that it will be more expensive months later-.

There is also hyper-consumption in leisure or purchase of durable goods given the low value of the local currency, although the vast majority of the population is forced to ration their expenses.

”People who come used to buy a kilo of churrascos, (now) they buy two churrasquitos. People who came, if they wanted to take four milanesas (breaded fillets) they take two and cut it in half to get four and it’s difficult. Now, not only meat (beef), but also pork, chicken and everything like that”Yohan David explains.

This Colombian butcher has lived in Argentina for 10 years and remembers that, when he arrived, he was able to send remittances to his country thanks to his work. “Now, I do need them to send me money from Colombia. It’s an end to end change”, he adds.

Something similar is pointed out by Claudia Duré, an employee in a bakery where, due to the increase in the inputs necessary for the preparation of bread, they had to “raise prices to a very high amount.”

Who “Before, they took a kilo of bread, now they are taking half or a quarter, it depends on how much money (the money) reaches them.””.

This Paraguayan worker arrived in Argentina 13 years ago, and assures that “for the first time” lives a situation like this, recognizes that “It is increasingly difficult as employees to keep up with this rise”It is an increasingly repeated phrase: salaries are not enough.

According to the latest figure from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec), the cost of the basic food basket increased by 7.1% in July, with a year-on-year variation of 125.7% and an increase of 66.2% accumulated in 2023, all values ​​above of inflation.

In Argentinathe minimum wage rose to 112,500 pesos in August (US$321 at the official exchange rate), a family group made up of two adults and two minors needed to receive income of 111,642 pesos (about US$319 at the official exchange rate) to avoid falling into destitution, according to INDEC.

After the primaries, in which the libertarian Javier Milei -who advocates the dollarization of the economy, a sharp cut in public spending and the privatization of sectors such as health or education- was the most voted candidate, with 30.04% support, the Executive renegotiated with the mass consumption companies the so-called “fair prices” until concluding a fixed increase of 5% per month for 90 days.

It also finalized an agreement with the oil companies so that the increase registered this week of 12.5% ​​in fuel is the last until October 31.

Until now, among the daily images of supermarkets were that of the operators constantly remarking prices, that of the empty gondolas due to lack of stock in some products -mainly imported- or that of buyers surprised at the checkout because the final value was different from that on the label.

In the medicines sector, according to Luis Sándel, manager of a pharmacy, there are “an immediate update system” that the workers cannot correct and cites as an example a client who was charged for a product for 22,000 pesos (US$ 63) “and when it arrived in the afternoon there were 27,000 (77)”.

“The drug increases practically in relation to the Dolar blue’ (whose value this Thursday was 750 pesos), the unofficial one ”, affirms this Argentine manager, who highlights the added difficulty that in his sector “practically 80% of the products have imported inputs.”

The import restriction, one of the effects of Argentina’s low level of international reserves, also affects clinical analysis, surgeries, and dental treatments, among others.

Thus, in this situation of clear uncertainty, Argentine pockets try to survive, a living example of resilience.

Source: EFE