While Alberto Fernández and Sergio Massa are flying to Brasilia in search of an agreement to be able to pay for imports from Brazil, the finance minister of the neighboring country, fernando haddad She said There will be export financing only if Argentina offers some kind of guarantee.
The meeting between Alberto and Lula da Silva will be at 17:00 at the Palácio da Alvorada. Presumably, the Brazilian president will offer the Argentine a line of credit so that the country can buy Brazilian products. The idea is that it is some sort of credit for exports, financing for Brazilian companies that sell in the country.
“What we want is not to lose space in exports for Argentina,” Haddad told reporters accredited to the finance ministry. More than 200 Brazilian companies no longer export to Argentina and many others they do not receive payments due, said the minister.
In his view, it is necessary to ensure that Brazilian exporters receive payment for the exported product. “There cannot be any kind of difficulty for Brazilian companies to find themselves in the situation they are in. For this we are trying to find an intermediate solution“, with a possible offer of guarantees from Argentina, he continued.
Precisely, what is being evaluated between the two countries is the way to give this guarantee. “Indeed, We have been working on this issue since January”Haddad said.
In fact, the measure had already been discussed at the end of January during Lula’s first visit to the country. The idea was that it would be launched between February and March, but it was delayed after criticism from the opposition in Brazil over external financing.
Aid for Argentina would come from the New Development Bank e the transactions would be in pesos and reais. However, there are doubts about the convertibility risk of the Argentine currency to pay off debt in the future, hence the need for a guarantee.
Among the alternatives under consideration, there is also talk of “securitisation” of exports finance such capital market operations through trusts or other financial instruments. Argentina put it into practice in 2003 before the closure of access to credit by international banks due to the economic crisis, with operations of small amounts, in the order of 15 million dollars.
Source: Clarin
