Import control: what were the measures announced by the Central Bank

The central bank (BCRA) announced a series of measures to control imports that will mainly affect large companies that request access to the foreign exchange market to pay for imports.

With this new regulation, the organism seeks to reduce the outflow of dollars “to take care of international reserves,” according to the central bank in its official statement.

The Government seeks to take care of reserves to prioritize energy imports.

In this sense, the central bank It will be stricter with the annual and monthly quotas to access the foreign exchange market. In essence, the measure forces large companies to obtain more financing to pay for their imports.instead of using the reserves of the BCRA.

For their part, SMEs will have greater flexibility to access foreign currency, according to the statement, “small and medium-sized companies are exempt from the current requirements to finance their imports for an increase of 15% compared to the previous year, with a limit up to a million”.

Martín Guzmán had anticipated the measures.

The document also states that “the measures extend the import financing system to those carried out under a Non-Automatic License and to the importation of services and will be in force for one quarter, to allow time for the normalization of foreign trade.”

In addition, that “in the new payment scheme, the SIMI A will maintain access to the foreign exchange market for the equivalent of the monthly average of imports of 2021 plus 5% or 2020 plus 70%. The SIMI B corresponding to the Non-Automatic Licenses will be able to access the market 180 days after the dispatch to the market”.

The Central Bank seeks to improve the exchange balance.

Also, it was ordered, among other measures: “to expand the tariff positions of goods equivalent to those produced in the country that will have access to the market from 180 days and that of luxury goods that will be able to access from 360 days.

How long will the measures be in force?

financial authority established that these new rules: “will be valid for one quarter, to allow time for the normalization of foreign trade”. With this measure, the Government seeks foreign exchange savings of approximately 1,000 million dollars per month.

Because of the war, there is a crisis in the international economy.

This given that the BCRA has not managed to accumulate dollars in recent weeks, so “the measure seeks to strengthen the accumulation of reserves with reprioritization of access to foreign currency to what is necessary for growth and development and restricting access to currency to what is not essential”.

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