The central bank (BRCA) bought more than US$40 million so far this week, after the implementation of the new Import System of the Argentine Republic (SIRA)which came into force this Monday to replace the previous regime.
On the day of this Tuesday, the BCRA ended its participation with purchases in the market for US$21 million, while this Monday it had added another US$23 million.
In this way, the Central reduced its selling balance so far this month to US$250 million, after having stringed together six consecutive rounds of sales for almost US$300 million.
“The new authorization system to access the market again compressed the demand for dollars, allowing the monetary authority to absorb the excess available in today’s trading session”commented Gustavo Quintanaagent of PR Corredores de Cambio.
In September, the BCRA had won US$4,966 million in purchases in the Single Free Exchange Market (MULC), after the Export Increase Program or “soybean dollar” encouraged the liquidation of US$ 8,123 million of that grain and derivatives in September, a month in which exports of agriculture are historically a third of that value.
From today, the new import system governs
➡ Through the new scheme arranged by the AFIP in conjunction with the Ministry of Commerce, it will seek to avoid cases of overinvoicing, abusive use of injunctions and other irregular mechanisms https://t.co/tkXBmtOOB5
—Telam Agency (@TelamAgency) October 17, 2022
This Monday, on its first day of validity, 2,767 importers were registered who initiated procedures for the purchase of merchandise abroad with total normality in the SIRA, while the total number of declarations processed with the current mechanism amounted to 7,625 presentations, according to data from the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP).
The SIRA is applied jointly by the AFIP, the Ministry of Commerce and the Central Bank to take care of international reserves, provide predictability and traceability in imports, and guarantee production inputs to small and medium-sized companies.
Among the main advantages of the new system are the incorporation of the estimated payment date in foreign currency, the verification of the import quota in real time, greater control in the traceability of the entire operation and the creation of a single foreign trade current account.
The new system replaces the Comprehensive Import Monitoring System (SIMI), although imports previously approved through it will remain in force, while a simplified procedure is stipulated for those importers who do not require access to the MULC.
