The government loosens its grip on auto and auto parts manufacturers

The government has started making the exchange rate more flexible to car manufacturers and some of their suppliers, according to businessmen and government sources. The restriction on imports, in the last two months, had generated the plant stops in some terminals like Fiat, Iveco, Renault and Nissan, in addition to agricultural machinery manufacturers, among other manufacturers.

It’s a measure indeedwhich has not been announced, but which is already impacting some companies: the authorizations for access to dollars by the Central Bank, at the official price, would have started to have deadlines for 30 to 45 daysinstead of the 180 days What should all companies expect? when importing parts or consumables.

“It’s working to shorten the time to 30 days, but with the goods here“said sources from the Secretariat of Commerce, chaired by Matías Tombolini.

Sources from the automotive sector confirmed this version. “For importing parts, the effective term is shortened to 45 days“, they said in one of the main terminals. “As of this Friday there are new deadlines, but it is not something that has come out in writing. For the import of finished vehicles, the period has been shortened to 120 days and for the parties, at 45 days”.

The mechanism by which these orders are handled is andl Import system (SIRA), launched in mid-October, after the arrival of Sergio Massa to the Ministry of Economy.

The new SIRA formally replaced the Integral Import Monitoring System (IF MY), a bureaucratic change that was awakened in its infancy strong criticism by the companies, who understood that the change of system wanted to generate more obstacles Import.

However, now that the terms for buying official dollars begin to shorten, SIRAs are proving to be the key procedure: with their mere approval, companies You can now access the Single and Free Trade Market (MULC) managed by the Central Bank. With the old bureaucracy, that access it wasn’t guaranteedeven when the company had a SIMI approved by the Executive.

The variant of the sale of official dollars with a 180-day deferment was implemented by the Central Bank in March, first to a group of importing industrial companies and finally to all signatures. Indeed, the monetary authority has imposed on companies the task of seeking that their external suppliers, or some banking entity, they will receive dollar credits for 180 dayspayable in BCRA dollars after that deadline.

In theory, this trap only applied to imports that exceeded the BCRA’s required amount by 105% for all of 2021. But for many companies whose operations had been curtailed due to the pandemic, that calculation basis was too scarce and they had to go out and look for outside funding well before the middle of the year.

In auto parts, with little or no financial return in some casesthe shortening of the terms to purchase official dollars represents the difference between the possibility of continuing to produce or you have to stop until you can get the currency pay foreign suppliers.

In fact, from the BCRA they approved a financing mechanism so that the car terminals could “pass” theirs official share in dollars to your suppliers.

“So far, the deadline reduction has reached some companies, but if it’s extended, that’s good news,” said an auto parts entrepreneur, affiliated with the Association of Auto Parts Manufacturers (AFAC). “They are telling the automotive suppliers that they will reduce the access period to 30 days. But for now, Santa Claus only came to a few” he added ironically.