“We know that we are not seeing a recovery”
The Secretary of Commerce, Pablo Lavigne, admitted in a meeting with consumer businessmen that the recessionary scenario is very complex and that, in any case, the portfolio he leads “will have the most inconsequential role possible.” In parallel, in a meeting that lasted no more than half an hour and included small and large supermarkets, the Chamber of Grocers and wholesale businesses, he admitted that “we know that we are not seeing a recovery in sales.”
As Page I12 learned, last week, Lavigne called on the sector to take stock of the first six months of Javier Milei’s government. That meeting took place this afternoon at the portfolio’s headquarters in Diagonal Roca, where Lavigne was accompanied by the Undersecretary of Consumer Defense, Fernando Blanco Muiño.
In that scenario, Lavigne assured, between smiles, that “it’s been 6 months but it seems like 3 years.” She also promised that “the issue of reactivation will be resolved when the macro is resolved”, an explanation that she did not satisfy the attendees, who have seen double-digit drops in sales since Milei is Government. The secretary’s explanation also contrasts with the Government’s story that commerce is seeing a recovery in household spending.
Trade, for what?
Another very curious part of the meeting was when Lavigne tried to explain what the role of Commerce will be, right in the middle of the sales crisis. “We seek to have the most inconsequential role possible, we don’t want to go back to those times where they were called for anything,” she said.
He continued by saying that “we are going to dedicate ourselves to Trade Loyalty, to display prices, to check that there are no expired products and that the price of shelf and box strapping is met.” All the rest, for Lavigne, “is a matter of private matters, of competition.”
