Although credit card sales increased by 170%, turnover decreased by up to 23%. This scenario challenges the official narrative that maintained that the worst moments of the crisis were behind us in March and April.
In addition, Barbero mentioned the reappearance of plans with up to 12 installments, which favors the recovery of credit portfolios.
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The credit card sales experienced an increase of 170% compared to May 2023. However, this increase was affected by a notable contraction in general consumption.
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It is worth remembering that, consumption continues in free fall and that Despite the slowdown in inflation, the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME) and specialists in distribution logistics marked declines in billing of up to 23%.
Thus, in May, transactions with credit cards reached $7,877,139 million, which represents an increase of 170.8% compared to the same month of the previous year. Nevertheless, This increase was about 100 percentage points below inflation accumulated, evidencing a significant drop in consumption.
This scenario challenges the official narrative that maintained that the worst moments of the crisis were behind us in March and April. The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, had stated that “the worst is over.” Compared to April of this year, credit card sales grew by 9.2%, on this occasion exceeding the expected inflation for the period. The information comes from the latest report from First Capital Group.
Consumption: analysis of the situation
Guillermo Barbero of First Capital Group pointed out that this is “the second consecutive month of real increase” and highlighted the growing offer of sales in installments. He also mentioned that more and more businesses are adhering to installment sales offers, with or without interest, through the Cuota Simple program or with private financing.
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Investigative Journalism Agency
In addition, Barbero mentioned the reappearance of plans with up to 12 installments, which favors the recovery of credit portfolios.
The consulting firm’s report indicated that consumption in dollars with credit cards had a year-on-year increase of 65.1%, although it showed an irregular monthly behavior, alternating between increases and decreases.
In May, an increase of 10.2% was recorded compared to the previous month, reaching a total of US$464 million. Barbero explained that portfolio balances are approaching pre-pandemic levels, which suggests a normalization of operations.
