A group of companies is asking to extend money laundering in order to import

Overwhelmed by the lack of input and the slowdown in activity, the leadership of the General Confederation of Enterprises of the Argentine Republic (CGERA), which represents industrial SMEs, held a meeting this afternoon with the Secretary of Commerce, Matías Tombolini, to discuss a exclusive argument: the import trap. With regard to this aspect, the directors have expressly specified that allows them to use undeclared dollars to bring goods from abroad into the countryan advantage that only the construction sector has for now.

“This was an outsourcing of external resources to the industry before the scarcity of foreign exchange and the difficulties of SMEs in obtaining import permits“, says a statement from an institution, which brings together more than 90 chambers from various sectors, such as clothing, leather goods, electronics, metallurgy, toys, auto parts and footwear. The specific proposal is to extend the field of application of Law 27.613, this would allow the laundering of foreign currency for “the payment of imports of essential supplies, capital goods and those products necessary to replace foreign purchases”.

Due to the decline in reserves, the government has tightened the squeeze on imports two-way: On the one hand, it has limited SIMI approvals (permits to bring goods from abroad), a procedure that depends on Tombolini. On the other hand, the Central has limited the access of importers to dollars at the official price. In this context, The CGERA demands that the use of undeclared dollars be legalized for the duration of the emergency.

This is not the first time they have raised this request. Last July, while the Senate was dealing with the money laundering project for construction that already had a half penalty in the Deputies, the body asked for the extension of this possibility. They did the same shortly after in a meeting with the current Secretary of Industry and Productive Development, José Ignacio de Mendiguren, a man very attached to the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa.

The CGERA proposal reflects the enormous concern caused by the tightening of import barriers. In this sense, private consultants feel a slowdown in activity due to lack of supplies. On Thursday last week the Central Bank extended until the end of the year “The obligation to finance imports for 180 days”, provision expired at the end of the month. It is not the only thing. The government has also limited the entry of finished cars and warned electronics manufacturers that they must “substantially” reduce imports in the last four months of the year.

The proposal to extend recycling in order to import could add new stakeholders. The CAME (the retail chamber) and the Argentine Chamber of Commerce have indicated that they do not have the issue on the agenda, but that they could analyze it in the coming days, as long as the government approves it.