The signaling from the Government to Juan Roig intensifies while the PP urges to lower VAT further and the Treasury rules it out

The signaling of businessmen from the Government intensifies.

After this weekend the Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, dismissed as "indecent" that the large distribution companies and their owners, whom she referred to as "ruthless capitalists", "are making gold" in In this crisis, the general secretary of Podemos has insisted this Monday on her proposal to put a cap on the prices of basic foods because "families in our country have to make ends meet and the Government has to ensure that it is so". .

Belarra opened fire on Saturday during his intervention in an electoral act of the party.

The minister assured that "it is indecent that the large distribution companies in Spain, that supermarkets like

or

, are making gold at the expense of the economic crisis derived from the war in Ukraine."

And she pointed directly to the president of Mercadona,

, whom she accused of "filling his pockets by being

."

The speech of the leader of the purple formation considerably raises the tone of signaling to businessmen in the food distribution sector from within the Government.

The companies directly indicated by Belarra prefer not to comment on the matter, but industry sources warn of the seriousness that from within the Executive itself this crisis is becoming a

From the distribution they insist that the margins of the companies in the sector move around 2% on average and categorically deny that they are benefiting from this crisis by raising prices.

In fact, according to the data provided by the

(

) to EL MUNDO, distribution has cushioned up to 6.8 points of the historical increase in industrial prices, that is, that the average price of the basket of the purchase has risen 6.8 points less than the price at which supermarkets buy these products from the food industry.

But from the far left flank of the coalition government they insist that supermarkets "are getting rich" in this crisis and defend

level in which

which were situated before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

A measure that, according to the calculations handled by the sector, would take supermarkets to red numbers in just over nine weeks.

The PP insists on further lowering VAT

Belarra's controversial statements have also found a reaction this Monday in the PP.

The party's spokesperson in the Congress of Deputies,

, has asked the Government to "respect the business sector a little more" and leave the "marks" to "focus on relieving the shopping basket" and

However, the Ministry of Finance is not evaluating additional VAT reductions to those already approved just a few weeks ago, when the super-reduced rate of 4% on basic foods was abolished and it was lowered from 10% to 5% in the case of pasta and oil, according to sources from the department led by

o.

"Right now we are focused on approving the royal decree," they settle from the ministry responsible for tax policies.

Along the same lines, the Ministry of Agriculture, the main interlocutor of the distribution and ally of the sector in this inflationary crisis, spoke out against some approaches of the purple partners of the coalition that they consider

".

"The proposal of the Government as a whole to try to contain food inflation and alleviate the pressure on the citizen's shopping basket is reflected in Royal Decree-Law 20/2022, of December 27, on response measures to the economic and social consequences of the Ukrainian War, which came into force just three weeks ago," they state.

From the department headed by

They are sent in the middle of next February, when the CPI data for January will be known, "to analyze the information and, where appropriate, see its impact."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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• supermarkets

• Feeding

• Inflation

• Ione Belarra

• Mercadona

• Carrefour