(Bloomberg) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said companies from Wal-Mart de México SAB to corn flour producer Maseca have agreed to freeze prices of key goods at a specified level, extending a pact to curb food inflation.
The president said on Friday that he met with the country’s largest producers, distributors and retailers earlier this week to discuss the details of the price pact, which renews and deepens an agreement announced in May. Attendees included chicken, egg, beef and tuna producers.
“It is reinforcing what had already been done but now with more depth, defining very clearly the prices of the basic basket,” said AMLO, as the president is known. “It is not price control, an agreement will be reached, that basket of 24 products, and if possible it will be expanded, it will cost so much, and so much per product.”
The move comes after inflation in Latin America’s second-largest economy spiked in August to the highest level in more than 20 years, reaching 8.76% in early September, even as some regional peers, including Brazil, have started to register slow price increases.
AMLO invited the participants of the most recent inflation pact, which include retailers such as Organización Soriana and Grupo Comercial Chedraui, to present the plan to the press on October 3.
AMLO argues that the agreement cannot be considered as a price control because the companies will decide the prices for themselves.
original note:
AMLO Extends Anti-Inflation Pact That Freezes Some Food Prices
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