Central Bank of Argentina creates measures to stop the outflow of dollars

The Argentine Central Bank has shown changes in the import system to try to address the loss of reserves due to purchases made abroad. Its new scheme will be valid until September 30, 2022, carrying out different measures to stop the outflow of dollars.

This has led the BCRA to restrict access to the foreign exchange market (MULC) for large companies that want to import, at the same time raises the limits for imports by small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by 15%.

The Minister of Economy, Marín Guzmán, was in charge of defending this resolution in recent statements, where he made it clear that these measures try to prioritize the use of foreign currency for imports, which is why they have decided to control who is given direct access to the exchange market.

According to the statement, the new foreign trade payment system responds to the extraordinary foreign exchange needs in order to meet the necessary import of energy. The objective is none other than to try to sustain economic growth and the development of small and medium-sized businesses and also to avoid speculative maneuvers regarding imports.

The Central Bank of Argentina also equates the treatment of imports of capital goods and services. All those who have automatic and non-automatic licenses will have to finance themselves over 180 days.

Likewise, it must be taken into account that the BCRA will be in charge of the export prefinancing. With this it aims to accelerate the entry of foreign currency. In this sense, it has been decided to increase the obligation to settle foreign currencies to 15 days compared to the current 5 days. This is an important measure to take into account.

The measures of the Central Bank of Argentina on the import regime

Among the new measures of the Central Bank of Argentina Regarding the import regime, the following should be highlighted, although there are others that have also been applicable in the Latin American country:

• The new system extends to imports carried out under non-automatic license and to the import of services, being valid for one quarter.
• SMEs are exempt from the current requirements to finance imports for an increase of 15% over the previous year, with a limit of one million.
• The SIMI A have access to the exchange market that is equivalent to the monthly average of imports from last year 2021 plus 5% or from the year 2020 plus 70%.
• SIMI B, which correspond to non-automatic licenses, can access the market 180 days after dispatch to the market.
• Imports of services are treated equally to those of goods, and access to the market is allowed for the same amount as in 2021 and, in the case of exceeding the amount, the balance within 180 days.
• The tariff positions are expanded for goods equivalent to those produced in the country that can have access to the market after 180 days.
• The import of luxury goods that can be accessed after 360 days.
• Imports of capital goods have come to have a rule that allows payment of 80% at the port of origin and the remaining 20% ​​upon nationalization.
• The pre-financing of exports is facilitated, which will serve to accelerate the entry of foreign currency, especially from the cereal complex, with an obligation to produce the settlement of the foreign currency received that amounts to 5 to 15 days; and long-term financing to prepay local debts in foreign currency.
• The new measures do not affect foreign purchases carried out by courier services.