UIA warns about new obstacles to imports: “Production cannot be stopped”

The Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) sounded alarms on Monday after learning of new official measures that tighten import controls. “The production must not and cannot be interrupted, if the production process is interrupted, the reactivation cannot take place,” said the head of the production plant, Daniel Funes de Rioja.

With Communication A 7532, the Central Bank further limited the quotas available to companies requesting access to the foreign exchange market to pay for imports. Specifically, it included all companies with non-automatic licensing within those limits, except for SMEs which do not exceed 15% of their imports in 2021.

In this context, the UIA had proposed to the authorities that guarantee access to foreign exchange for the import of supplies, spare parts and machinery. “It is not just any imports, but the specific ones that make the continuity of the industrial production process,” Funes de Rioja said in a dialogue with CNN Radio.

“In 2021 there was a resurgence that some have called a rebound, a growth of over 10%this year it does not have the same growth rate but the sectors that had not reactivated, such as tourism, gastronomy and hotels, have a greater activity and require production chains “, explained the president of the UIA.

On the other hand, he laments the changes that henceforth make access to the official dollar more flexible for SMEs that import up to 15% of the 2021 value. “When they say they will import 15% more than in 2021, this is not enough in terms of valueWe will analyze it, we are in contact with the ministry, we are awaiting talks with the central bank “, he added.

And then he warned: “Production must not and cannot be interrupted, if the production process is interrupted, reactivation cannot take place”.

“They told us that production was guaranteed. We will continue to act at all levels of government to guarantee this activity ”. Likewise, he was concerned about access to dollars: “In the case of SMEs, we are concerned about access to the currency. There we want mechanisms to be sought through the financial system to gain access to these currencies. “

“Argentina cannot afford to stop the production process because the context indicates that the industry was trying to build a path. On the subject of supplies, which are lacking in all sectors, the scenario is not easy, but we will not give up all our efforts to ask us to continue on this path ”, she concluded.

Economy Minister Martín Guzmán said Thursday that the BCRA “has updated the rules on access to foreign currency for the import of capital goods and services” in search of “a prioritization of the use of foreign currency to strengthen the accumulation of reserves”. And the head of the Central, Miguel Pesce, said the goal is to save nearly $ 1,000 million.

Among the main measures ordered by the BCRA, the import financing system is extended to those carried out under a Non-Automatic License and to the import of services, valid for three months until the end of September, once energy imports have been reduced, today the item that requires the greatest amount of reserves.

Until now, 75% of companies had to wait 180 days to get dollars at official value when it exceeded 5% of imports in 2021. To date, 100% is achieved by expanding the list of domestically produced goods, while the deadline for luxury goods (helicopters, drones, jet skis and quads, among others) is extended to 365 days.

YN