Lestido participated in a commission of the House of Representatives on the subject, which in recent weeks carried out visits to shopping centers on the north coast of the country, where bilateral exchange has great economic weight.

He said that the information collected shows a 40-percent drop in sales volume. “This is due to the difference in prices that we are experiencing with Argentina,” Lestido told the deputies.

He mentioned his concern regarding the entry of illegal merchandise, which in his words arrives in significant quantities.

This is generating high levels of informal employment in the frontiers. In short, at the end of the day, informal employment ends up hurting the workers, and we have reached levels of unemployment in some departments that are approaching 14 percent, he estimated.

The economist Ana Laura Fernández considered, that the difference in price ceased to be temporary to become structural and permanent. “At least in medium term, one should not expect a sudden change in this situation, hence the need to think about strategies and measures,” she argued.

She explained that data from November shows that the Uruguayan city of Salto is 122 percent more expensive than Concordia, across the border. There are products such as personal care, food and beverages where the price difference is even greater, she pointed out.

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