Argentina: Central Bank Communication “A” 7532 – Amendments to the foreign exchange regime

In brief

By means of Communication “A” 7532 (“Communication“), the Central Bank of Argentina (ACB) established new restrictions regarding access to the foreign exchange market (“FX Market“) for the payment of imports of goods and the payment of imports of services to unrelated counterparties, among others.

The main points of the Communication are set out below:

1. Payment of imports in “Exit” status: (i) The additional 20% is eliminated for the calculation of the available quota for SIMI A and C at each instance; and (ii) the provisions for the payment of non-automatic licenses (LNA) declared as SIMI B or C are suspended until 30 September 2022. Nevertheless, LNA will be computed to define the limit of SIMI A and C and their payment (including the previous ones since 1 January 2022) will be computed to determine the available quota.
2. Payment of imports of consumer and capital goods: Until 30 September 2022: (i) subject to certain exceptions, payment thereof shall be computed for the purpose of determining the available quota for payment under SIMI A; and (ii) capital goods may be paid (concept codes B20 and B21) in advance up to 80%, the rest being payable upon nationalization.
3. Payment for the importation of services to non-related counterparties covered by the SIMPES: A new regime similar to the payment of goods is established. The payment requested, plus those made during the year, shall not exceed the proportional part accrued up to that month of the payments made in 2021. If it is less than USD 50,000, whichever of the latter or the annual limit is lower will be adopted. If these conditions are not met, payment can only be made 180 days after the service was provided unless foreign financing is simultaneously received or settled from a local entity through a foreign line of credit with a maturity of not less than 180 days from the provision of the service.

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