Since February 10th almost 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses Importers will be able to access the official dollar again to clear the debt they have incurred with their suppliers abroad. This was reported by the Central Bank and the Ministry of Economy, after the deadline for registration in a debt register of companies that have fallen into debt in recent months to be able to import has expired.
In total, sand have recorded debts of more than $51,000 million in this register. Howeverapproximately 8.5 billion dollars were settled without the need to access the foreign exchange market, so the end result of this ledger was net debts for 42.6 billion dollars. The debt estimated by the government amounted to approximately 60,000 million dollars.
In a joint statement, the Ministry of Economy and the Central Bank said: “The analysis of registered information has revealed high debt atomization. The Ministry of Trade and the BCRA have agreed to provide an alternative that attempts to completely resolve this critical situation for approximately 10,000 companies, of which over 5,100 are micro SMEs, almost 3,900 small and almost 1,000 medium, which represent almost 80% of the total universe of MSMEs and “more than 70% of the total companies registered in the Register”.
While for medium and large companies with debts above $500,000 the alternative will continue to be the Argentine Reconstruction Bond (BOPREAL) tender, the economic team has decided that companies with debts below this amount they will be able to access the official market again, in a gradual way, to obtain dollars and thus pay off the debt with their suppliers or parent companies.
“Companies qualifying in the MiPyME segment with debts on the register of up to US$500,000 will have access to the free foreign exchange market to settle their overseas trade debts between February and April 2024,” the statement read.
“Starting from February 10th you will be able to access for a temporary maximum of up to 50,000 dollars, starting from March 10th they will be able to access an additional 100,000 dollars and from April 10 for the remaining amount of its registered debt,” the Government reported. Thus, most of the demand for dollars would occur in the months of March and April, in which dollar inflows are expected. exporters’ liquidations, supply on the official market increases.
In Economy they underlined that this is “good news”, as it gives “certainty about the total commercial debt at the closing of the register, which allows us to provide an immediate solution to the vast majority of SMEs and certainty about the next steps.”
The rest of the MySME companies that have debts exceeding half a million dollars will be eligible to participate in the Bopreal Series 2 and 3 tenders. As announced by the Central Bank at the end of December, Series 2 of the bonds will mature in 2025 and will pay no interest. On the contrary, the importer will receive the repayment of his capital in 12 monthly and consecutive installments starting from July 2024. This bond will not be negotiable on the stock exchange, but will be transferable to third parties.
Series 3, however, will expire in 2026, will pay 3% interest and will be amortized in three consecutive quarterly installments starting from November 2025. In this case the bond will be enabled for transfer as well as secondary negotiation. market. Now, Central has announced that these two series will be They will compete in February.
Source: Clarin
