Annabella quiroga
07/28/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 07/28/2021 7:35 AM
Cell phone manufacturers pressure the Government to allow them to return to the Now 12 program. The current version of this program
expires this Saturday, July 31
and is expected to be renewed with more products and more fees so that this contributes to improving consumption and social humor for the September and November elections.
Companies that produce cell phones in the country see in this program
an alternative to help them get out of the well
.
It's that sales have sunk in recent years.
Hand in hand with the rise in prices and the fall in purchasing power, the market collapsed and fell 37%.
With this outlook AFARTE, the chamber that groups local manufacturers, made a specific request to the Secretary of Internal Commerce to include cell phones with low prices -
less than $ 50,000
- within the renewal of Now 12. The Government not yet released a promise about what will be the scope of the new version of the program.
"We already had meetings and
we are trying to go back to Now 12,
" they said from AFARTE.
Telephones were part of the program in previous editions, but in the current version the government chose to leave them out.
Instead, they sealed an agreement for the products that 25 companies manufacture in Tierra del Fuego to
keep prices unchanged until the end of October
.
This reaches cell phones, televisions, air conditioners and microwaves.
Cell phones seek access to financing.
The industrialists are now clinging to a paragraph of that agreement, which establishes that “the Ministry, in order to contribute to the achievement of this commitment, will
reestablish the participation of cell phones in the Now 12 program,
starting with low-end equipment. , understanding as such those whose sale price to the public is equal to or less than Fifty Thousand Pesos ($ 50,000.-), as soon as the circumstances allow it ”.
Attentive to this reality, cell phone manufacturers go to meet Paula Español, the Secretary of Internal Trade, willing to accept even the minimum option, which is to
include them in the low-quota versions.
The Secretary of Internal Trade, Paula Español, will define Now 12 as follows.
Until now, cell phones have
financing plans offered by the manufacturers themselves
, although under less advantageous conditions than the Government's plan.
"We are reducing our profit margin to maintain prices, but it is increasingly difficult."
From almost
10 million cell phones sold in 2017, it rose to 6.2 million
units in 2020, which implies a market reduction of 37%.
"That is why financing is essential," they argue.
Manufacturers point out that among the reasons for this reduction are the fall in the purchasing power of consumers as a consequence of the devaluation and inflationary processes, the instability of employment and economic activity and
the increase in prices
due to external shocks of demand and strong restrictions in the supply of inputs and services in the context of the global pandemic.
Fees and interest
The last renewal of Now 12 occurred on April 1, when it was extended until July 31, 2021 to pay for purchases financed in
3, 6, 12 or 18 fixed monthly installments
with a credit card, every day of the week, no amount limit.
The program sets
limits on the interest
that can be charged.
For payments in 3 installments the cap is 4.06%;
in 6 installments, 7.27%;
in 12 installments, 13.90% and in 18 installments, 20.78%.
Between January and April of this year, sales made with this program reached
$ 232,407 million
.
The show peaked in March when billing reached $ 70,000.
But with the April renovation, things changed.
On the one hand, the three-month grace period that had been in force since the 2020 quarantine was eliminated and, on the other, the quotas for clothing and footwear, two of the dominant categories, were shortened.
In addition, cell phones were left out of financing schemes.
This caused that in April, the invoicing fell 22%, to
$ 54,000 million.
AQ
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