The start of a dollar-free summer and mounting complaints about a lack of inputs put foreign exchange management back in the spotlight. In the last few hours, Sergio Massa has let the insiders know its intention to plan imports in 2023. The idea is to project access to dollars to avoid a blockage in some sectors due to the continuation of restrictions and the dripping of reserves, while the measures are studied.
The issue was on the table at the meeting held on Tuesday by the Minister of Economy with the head of the Association of Metallurgical Industrialists (ADIMRA), Orlando Castellani, on the fifth floor of the Palacio de Hacienda and, instead, during the visit of the Secretary of Commerce, Matías Tombolini, at the UIA headquarters, where he was received by its owner, Daniel Funes de Rioja.
“We are concerned about the access to dollars for imports, We are following up, we bring you the projection of the first half imports that they asked us at the previous meeting, the commitment is to resolve the cases,” Adimra sources say, referring to the report they prepared at the request of Commerce from the consultation with 1,400 companies in the sector.
The biggest concern is for the inputs and intermediate goods that factories must continue to produce. In the rubber sector, for example, they warn that they are “at the limit”. According to official data, in January imported US$5.325 million, 6% more than in December and a similar level to the same month in 2022. Now, when viewed by item, capital goods and intermediate goods – two items considered priority – are down 8 and 10% year-on-year.
The data contrasts with the sharp increases recorded in these chapters in January of last year and accompanies, among other factors, signs of a slowdown in the sector. “Firstly, the basis for comparison was high because the restrictions were more flexible, secondly, the lack of funding due to the shares and, thirdly, the SIRA, which has an impact on the shares,” said Soledad Pérez Duhalde, economist at Abeceb.
Since October the government tightened restrictions with the creation of the import system (SIRA), which added the intervention of Commerce, AFIP, Customs and the Central Bank. The measure aimed at deactivating under-invoicing and over-stocking operations, but since then the operators have ensured that the authorizations have never been fully implemented and that a criterion has not been applied to give priority to inputs or raw materials.
behind the controls the reserve hemorrhage looms, which has intensified since the end of the soybean 2 dollar and the sharp decline in foreign exchange earnings, exacerbated by the drought. Because of this, the central bank has racked up $808 million in sales for the year, including the $292 million it separated this Wednesday for prepayment of energy imports, a strategy Massa seeks to save foreign exchange. .
In this context, on Tuesday Tombolini reviewed with Funes de Rioja the state of the most critical sectors due to the lack of imported inputs and asked him for a forecast for the year. “Let’s fix the missing permits for 2022 and make a projection for 2023,” the secretary told them. “I don’t see a slowdown in imports because of course there are exchange restrictions, If you don’t have dollars, however much you authorize permits, it’s not enough”recognized in the UIA.
Massa had promised industrialists more flexible access to dollars once energy imports were reduced. That item dropped from $2,361 million in July to $680 million last January. However, a UIA survey released in January showed that over 80% of businesses face longer approval times with SIRA than with the previous system and payment delays of up to 180 days.
In 2022, imports amounted to 81.360 million US dollars, an increase of 29% annually, above the 13.5% increase in exports. Although partly explained by the increase in the cost of energy, the incentive to frontload operations in the official dollar also played a role. Now, the sector expects external purchases to rise by 20%, in a year that is expected to grow by 2% of GDP – half of last year -, according to the 2023 Budget.
Source: Clarin
