Argentine Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna left supermarket owners with a mild sense of relief on Tuesday as he ended a much- anticipated meeting without demanding any new measures to control rising consumer prices, according to the Dow Jones news agency.
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However, according to Economy Ministry Spokesman Armando Torres, he did hint at some possible new initiatives to come. And, in a veiled warning to supermarkets not to respond to mounting inflationary trends by raising prices further, he told them they had “no cause for concern if they act with prudence,” Torres said.
The meeting follows a string of measures to curtail rising food prices. The government recently fixed a price accord with chicken producers and last week made its most draconian move yet, slapping taxes on milk exports. This has generated some fear of a move toward more rigid and broad-based price controls in the business community.
At a press conference earlier, Lavagna said there would be “no police control of prices,” describing such a prospect as “absurd.” And yet he is keeping the business sector guessing about possible measures.
Torres said that he told the supermarket owners that they wouldn’t be informed of measures that are under consideration.
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By GlobalData“We have invited you not to ask you anything in particular and neither are we going to tell you about the measures,” Lavagna told the supermarket owners, according to Torres’s account. “The government is going to analyze the situation and see what are the challenges.”
For his part, Federico Brow, vice president of the Chamber of Supermarkets, said “I believe (Lavagna) was very clear. He did not come to force an accord, simply to make a diagnosis of the situation.”
Brow said he and his colleagues “will do as much as possible to ensure that these price increases are not transferred to the public.”
After a price breakout in June, forecasts for 2005 inflation have risen to 11% , according to consensus estimates, well above the 8% ceiling target fixed by the central bank.
