On the first day of the launch of the measures announced to contain the effects of the surge in inflation, the Government continued to evaluate the next steps. Sergio Massa’s team claims to have a package with increased corporate import controls who violated price agreements and a device for companies use foreign dollars to import, an operation that today represents the 6% of authorized permits.
The Economy Minister received this Monday the head of customs, Guillermo Michel, and the legal secretary, Ricardo Casal to analyze these problems. The meeting coincided with the entry into force of the art Rate increase by 6 points which brought the performance of fixed terms to 97% per annum, and in which the Central Bank was able to purchase 60 million dollars, but without being able to prevent the blue dollar from rising to 483 dollars, which increased the exchange rate gap with the 110% wholesaler.
Right now, the main concern of the government is the saving dollars amid bloody reserves, without forcing a further decline in activity and consumption. A trend that has begun to be noticed in the sector and which is of concern to Cristina Kirchner, who at the end of April once again warned in her speech in La Plata about the lag of wages compared to prices and the dollar, at the same time guard against the “inflationary” impact of the agreement with the IMF.
In the midst of these “quilombos”, as Massa has called the internal struggles in the context of an election year, Economia is looking for a mechanism to ensure that companies “Self-financing” with dollars obtained through credits abroad to finance exports and used to pay for imports. Companies also expect a “pre-import” deal or dollar credit that the IMF, China or Brazil can provide.
“What we are talking about with companies is to close a mechanism that allows pre-financing funds for exports to be applied to the payment of imports and thus decompress the dollar output,” say Economy sources. Near Massa claim that the proposal emerged from the Aluar group, of businessman Javier Madanes Quintanilla. The minister received it weeks ago, and now The ADEFA automakers would be evaluating it.
According to official calculations, exports it could grow by 70% and generate foreign currency for companies to cover their import needs. Economy probed Toyota, but in the industry they are sceptical. “Because they have surpluses, they cover all their imports, but all pre-financing comes at a cost, whether or not you get the funds and want to lend to an Argentinian company,” auto industry sources warn.
The inventory tightening, to which the Central Bank added new hurdles last week, is having an impact on the sector. According to a survey by the chamber of auto parts manufacturers AFAC, 77% face delays in locating projects and inconvenience for equipment maintenance due to the restrictions. The measure under study would aim to unlock capital goods and key inputs, which today have to wait 180 days. The BCRA may fix it this Thursday.
In parallel, Michel is preparing more controls through the Commercial Operations Analysis Unit which was announced on Sunday, but still it has not been made official. The idea is to add more agencies to be cross-checked by customs, AFIP, the central bank and the ministry of commerce. The view is set fresh food suppliers and automotive for alleged importation at the official dollar and its sale at the value of blue.
The new scheme envisages the intervention of the Ministry of Agriculture in the export authorization in cases of “speculation” and the use of BCRA data for the “online” monitoring of foreign trade. There will also be restrictions on companies that have breached price agreements. “We will readjust the use of dollars to those who should have respected fair prices and have not complied,” said the customs chief.
Source: Clarin
