Exports of knowledge-based services (KBS) totaled US$6,405 million last year, recovering pre-pandemic levels and ranking third among the sectors that contribute the most foreign currency to the country, with a projection for 2022 of more than US$ 7,000 million, which if confirmed will become a new record.
“We are promoting the growth of the sector, which is key to generating foreign exchange and genuine employment that Argentina needs in these years,” the Secretary of Knowledge Economy, Ariel Sujarchuk, told Télam.
In that sense, he specified that “from the first day of management we are working on the training of 70,000 programmers in less than a year with the Argentina Program, the release of tax quota bonds for the benefit of some 450 companies, the draft decree of necessity and urgency to create a differentiated dollar that reduces gaps and provides greater billing facilities in dollars to professionals who export services abroad“.
“We are promoting the growth of the sector, key in generating foreign exchange and genuine employment that Argentina needs in these years”
According to the figures that are officially handled, the estimated export data of the SBC for 2022 is that they will exceed US$ 7,000 million.
“Knowledge-based services (KBS) have been growing steadily in Argentina. They are a very important export complex, with US$7 billion exported per year,” the coordinator of the Argentina Productiva Plan stressed on his Twitter account. 2030, Daniel Schteingart.
Knowledge-based services (SBC) have been growing steadily in Argentina.
They are a very important export complex, with 7,000 million USD exported per year.
What is your potential in Argentina?
New document written by @anlopez1962 Y @JeremiasLachman pic.twitter.com/GCiguLcJ0T
— Daniel Schteingart (@danyscht) August 16, 2022
In fact, it is the third largest exporter complex in terms of annual foreign currency entered into the country, behind oilseeds and cereals.
In the first quarter of 2022, US$ 1,962 million in SBC were exported, 25% more than in the same period of 2021, and 15.9% above 2019), according to numbers from the Center for Production Studies ( EPC XXI).
But it was also the second highest figure in history, just behind the US $ 1,969 million registered in 2018.
Also, This is the fourth consecutive year-on-year increase.linked mainly to the good performance in the two items with the greatest weight: business services and telecommunications, computer and information services.
the sbusiness services foreign sales totaled US$ 1,088 million and grew by 28.7% year-on-year, and also exceeded 2019 by 13.2%.
The item represented 55.4% of total SBC exports and contributed the greatest positive impact on the general performance, with an increase of 15.5 percentage points.
In this way, it registers four quarters of uninterrupted year-on-year rise.
Inside, the growth of the two main sub-items stood out: professional and consulting services, whose exports represented 50.6% of the total and rose 38.6%, and technical services related to engineering, architecture and trade. , which represented 36.2% of the total and rose 21.4%.
Finally, the exports of the research and development services they expanded 16.4%, and represented 13.1% of the total.
The telecommunications, computer and information services they exported US$ 668 million, a year-on-year increase of 21.5% and 29.5% compared to 2019, and represented 34% of total SBC exports with a positive impact of 7.5 percentage points.
The result is mainly explained by the 22.7% rise in exports of computer services, which represented 94.5% of the category.
The exports of Telecommunications serviceswhich are 4.3% of the item, fell 3.2%, while information services, which are 1.2%, grew 48.3%.
Among the other items, which accounted for 10.5% of total SBC exports, the year-on-year evolution of charges for the use of intellectual property stood out (+51.6%, with a representation of 3.1% in the total external sales of SBC) and personal, cultural and recreational services (+6.7%; 5.1% of the total).
“There is broad agreement that SBCs represent an opportunity for the process of productive transformation and diversification in Argentina and, in general, in emerging countries,” highlighted researchers Jeremías Lachman and Andrés López, from the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy ( IIEP), dependent on the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and the National Council of Science and Technology (Conicet).
“There is broad agreement that SBCs represent an opportunity for the process of productive transformation and diversification in Argentina and, in general, in emerging countries”
In a document of his authorship, made for Argentina Productiva 2030, the experts indicated that “on the one hand, these are activities that can generate employment and foreign currency from exports and contribute to creating skills in various areas, both technological and organizational and commercial.” .
“On the other hand, productivity spillovers can emerge via the mobility of human capital that moves from SBC sectors to other industries. Likewise, SBC sectors can help improve the competitiveness of other productive activities via the provision of complex services and the generation and transfer of knowledge”, underlined Lachman and López.
