On December 30, 2020, by means of Communiqué “A” 7193 (the “Communiqué”), the Central Bank of the Republic of Argentina (hereinafter, the “Central Bank”), established additional considerations for argentine importers to access the Foreign Exchange Market.
In first place, the term of Communiqué “A” 7030 and its supplementary provisions were extended until March 31, 2021.
In addition, the requirement of the Central Bank’s authorization for the payment of imports of goods was also extended until March 31, 2020, and the scope of the exceptions thereof were modified, as detailed below:
1. Payments within the established quota: In order to access the official Foreign Exchange Market, an affidavit must be filed before the Central Bank stating that the total amount of payments for imports of goods made through the Foreign Exchange Market as of January 1, 2020, does not exceed in more than the equivalent of US$ 1,000,000 the amount that arises from computing: (i) the goods registered on behalf of the relevant entity in the SEPAIMPO system; (ii) the goods officially registered between January 1, 2020 and the day prior to the access to the Foreign Exchange Market; (iii) plus the sum of the payments made within the framework of sections 2.2. to 2.6. of the Communiqué that were not associated with imports included in sections (i) and (ii) above; and (iv) minus the amount pending to be regularized for payments of imports with pending customs registration between September 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019.
2. Advance payments of imports for goods or supplies related to the provision of medicines or linked to medical and/or health care: the maximum amount allowed has been increased from US$ 2,000,000 to US$ 3,000,000. Furthermore, it has been established that the amount must arise from the calculation of sections (i) to (iv) abovementioned.
3. Increase in the amount to access the Foreign Exchange Market: Although the amount by which importers access the Foreign Exchange Market had already been increased up to 50% of the amounts liquidated as of October 2, 2020 for advances or pre-financing of exports from a foreign jurisdiction with a minimum term of 180 days, it is now permitted that, in the case of operations liquidated as of January 4, 2021, the remaining 50% may be used to access the Foreign Exchange Market, to the extent that the additional part corresponds to advance payments of capital goods.
4. Elimination of the requirement established in point 10.3.2.5. of the Foreign Exchange Regime regulations: The requirement linked to the limit of up to US$ 2,000,000 per month for the payment of debts outstanding as of August 31, 2019 for imports of goods with related counterparties where no due date has been agreed or which have an earlier due date, was eliminated.
Finally, the Communiqué has established that the prior Central Bank authorization will be required for the purchase of foreign currency when an entity is included in the apocryphal invoices issuers of the Argentine Revenue Office (AFIP), with the exception of operations of cancellation of financing in foreign currency granted by local financial entities, including payments for purchases in foreign currency made by means of credit or purchase cards.
This report should not be considered as legal or any other type of advice by Allende & Brea.
