The Central Bank is easing stocks for the importation of medicines and medical supplies

After the request of the pharmaceutical industry, the Central Bank (BCRA) finally agreed to relax the dollar purchase restrictions for the import of raw materials and supplies used by that industry.

It is in communication! “A” 7507, in which the bank decided to “include access to the foreign exchange market to pay for imports of goods according to the categories of declarations in the Comprehensive Import Monitoring System (SIMI) ,

The proposal was made after a few weeks ago, both the laboratories and the reagent sector were warning aboutShortages of medical material could complicate the provision of health services in the coming months.

So, the sector filed several claims with the Ministry of Health and the BCRA, and finally yesterday the financial authority decided to exempt from the requirements to access official dollars to pay for imports of pharmaceutical products and/or suppliesto the extent that they are used for local production.

Juan José Marconi, executive director of the Business Chamber of Pharmaceutical Laboratories (Cooperala) pointed out about the proposal Central is considering: We appreciate the BCRA circular which is obvious has heard the problem of pharmaceutical laboratories. This is important because in this circle, laboratories will be able to respect the payment conditions of their foreign suppliers, ”he told Clarín.

The relaxation dictated by the banking authority covers a list of 27 tariff positions of the standard Mercosur nomenclature. Usually, these are pharmaceutical supplies. According to the list appearing in Communication “A” 7507, some of the products released are, among others: Human blood; Animal blood prepared for therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic use; serum with antibodies.