A whiskey bottle of US$ 50 is considered, from this Monday, a luxury good in Argentina. The government expanded the list of luxury goods for whose import the buyer could access the official exchange market only one year after having brought them to the country.
It included in the list spirits, liqueurs and other alcoholic beverages whose FOB value per liter was US$50 or more.
Extending the payment term to that date would make imports more expensive since sellers do not usually finance purchases at that time, and it would also add financial cost to operations.
Announced in January 2021 as an “anti-Lamborghini measure”, the exchange rate trap that was already making it difficult access to dollars to import luxury goods now reaches new products.
In addition to one liter bottles of whiskey or tequilaincluded vehicles designed to travel on snow and golf carts, regardless of their value.
In the event that the goods have been shipped between January 7 and June 27, the provision will only reach those whose FOB value is greater than or equal to US$ 25 thousand per unit.
For goods shipped until January 6, meanwhile, it will cover only those whose FOB value is greater than or equal to US$ 35,000 per unit.
The expansion of products considered luxury was detailed through the communication issued this Monday by the Argentine Central Bank. This list includes new positions in the list of luxury goods, such as helicopters, drones, jet skis and quadsamong others.
The list of products now considered “luxury” is added to those already included in that category that had been reported in January 2021 through another communication from the Argentine monetary authority.
On that occasion, the Central listed products that ranged from mineral water to dishwashers, electric ovens, domestic refrigerators or wines, sparkling wines and liquors, motorcycles, seeders-fertilizers, planters and transplanters for direct seeding, harvester-threshers, and washing machines. , among other.
“For luxury goods, the market can be accessed 360 days after dispatch to the market. What has been done now is to expand the list of goods,” sources from the Central Bank clarified.
Also now included in the category are aircraft, such as helicopters, airplanes, space vehicles (including satellites) and their launch vehicles and suborbital vehicles.
For this segment, the communication clarifies, the restriction will reach all shipped goods starting tomorrow, whatever the value per unit.
For goods shipped until this Monday, only those with an FOB value greater than or equal to US$ 1 million per unit will be covered.
However, the statement clarified that imports made by companies that provide air navigation services are excepted.
The Chronicler – RIPE
