Prices continue to soar, trimming the weekly budgets of those living in and around the capital.
The price of a bus fare soared by 45 percent on Monday as President Javier Milei’s government continues to roll-back subsidies for public transport. Tickets for short rides rose from 52.96 pesos to 76.92 pesos.
Reductions in subsidies will be even harsher next month, when the average bus ticket price in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area will rise to 270 pesos.
Rail fares are also increasing; starting Monday, the minimum fare will be between 37 and 48 pesos for those travelling with a SUBE card. They are expected to rise to 160 pesos in February.
The increases will deliver a hard blow for workers and the middle class: sectors that have already been managing increases in electricity, gas, water and sewage, education and other services.
Medicines are also soaring in price, despite data showing that consumption has dropped by almost 20 percent over the past month.
Over the past year, the most common medications soared by some 320 percent, according to the report by the Center of Argentine Pharmaceutical Professionals (CEPROFAR), which highlighted that they were rising quicker than the 211 percent inflation registered last year.
The most affected by the rising costs of medicines are retirees and pensioners, who, even without access to the PAMI health scheme, cannot afford the price they have to pay out of pocket. Many chronic patients faced difficulties continuing their medications this month.
Rubén Sajem, the head of CEPROFAR, said that “in no country in the world were medications increased without control like they are now in Argentina.”
“Medicines are the only thing that people need to buy, in addition to food, but unfortunately in December the measurements indicate that two out of every 10 people would not be able to access their treatments,” Sajem said.
He also said that drug sales fell 19 percent in the last month, and the likelihood is that they will fall even further during January.
Transportation costs are rising as Milei’s government looks to set the rates at values similar to those in the interior of the country.
The Infrastructure Ministry is beginning to develop a new formula so that the price of transportation is not decoupled from operating costs, although the adjustments would not be monthly.
Currently, ticket revenue for buses in metropolitan areas only contributes six percent of the total cost of bus systems. For trains, revenue makes up no more than 0.7 percent of the total cost of running the service.
Complicated months lie coming for public transit users until officials move forward with the structuring of a new subsidy scheme.
– TIMES/NA
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