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Services climbed to a record of US$7.8 billion in 2022

Services climbed to a record of US$7.8 billion in 2022

Exports of knowledge-based services (KBS) reached their all-time high. They are looking for the monotech law to add currencies that enter through the blue market. The Government wants sales to climb to $18 billion by the end of the decade.

potential. The software industry maintains a growth cycle that is not observed in other sectors and has an impact on employment indicators.

Exports of knowledge-based services (KBS) closed 2022 with a historical record of US$7,834 million, according to the Indec. With the monotech approval in Congress, in 2023 another US$1 billion of professional exports could be added that enter through the parallel market due to the exchange gap. By 2030, the Government projects that they could climb to US$18,000 millionaccording to the Argentina Productiva 2030 plan.

From the latest report on “Balance of payments, international investment position and external debt” published on Tuesday by INDEC, it can be seen what happened to foreign trade in services throughout 2022. SBC exports were US$7,834 million (+19.4%), which implies its historical maximum. The same with SBC imports: they closed at US$6,994 million, an increase of 19.3%. Thus, the trade balance was positive at US$840 million. The data was processed by Romina Gaya, an expert in international trade.

Unlike what happens with goods, in SBC the main trading partner is still the United States. Within the SBCs, the greatest increase occurred in the category “business, professional and technical services”, where exports were US$4,585 million in 2022, an increase of 22.5%. In second place, computer services led, with sales abroad of US$2,609 million, 17.9% more.

However, Gaya noted that the SBCs went from being the third exporting complex to the fifth, after the agricultural sector (oilseeds and cereals), energy and the automotive sector, as published on Twitter. In addition, he added that part of the increase in exports is explained by the increase in the price of services in dollars, due to the delay in the exchange rate, while the exchange rate gap “discourages” exports and “motivates” the overinvoicing of imports.

For this reason, faced with an exchange rate gap of almost 100% that has been going on for 3 years, the Ministry of Economy launched the “monotech” bill, which this Tuesday had a partial sanction in Deputies. It allows freelancers to work abroad and collect up to US$30,000 per year, without having to settle it at the official exchange rate, from $215. With the parallel dollar close to $400, what happens in practice is that these currencies are collected in international accounts such as Wise, Payoneer or Uttopia and enter the country through the informal market.

During the debate, legislators from the Frente de Todos who came out in defense of the project estimated that if it becomes law, they could formally enter between US$1,000 million and US$1,800 million during 2023. Ámbito consulted the Knowledge Economy Secretariat, headed by Ariel Sujarchuk, but they preferred not to make official estimates. The project still has to be approved by the Senate, then it has to be regulated, and finally gain the confidence of those who work abroad and have already developed all the engineering to bring these currencies informally, without paying any tax. Besides, business chambers such as Argencom already anticipate that they will ask that it not advancedue to the difficulties that companies already have to retain talent and compete with salaries in dollars.

There is consensus both in the ruling party and in the opposition about the importance of this sector, since the software law approved in 2003 later led to the knowledge economy law, unanimously approved by Congress in 2020. In fact, the sector It has a fundamental role in the Argentina Productiva 2030 plan presented this Tuesday by the Ministry of Economy. In mission 1, where you seek to double exports, It is projected that by 2030 SBC’s foreign sales could climb to $18 billion, that is, more than $10 billion today. The work led by Daniel Schteingart expects professional and business services to climb to $9.305 million and software to $7 billion.

On the one hand, the report mentions that Argentina is, together with Brazil, the leader in the region, and has “room to continue growing”, due to the high levels of education and English, together with the incentives of the law, and a thriving global demand in the context of digitization. However, it also mentions that exports were stagnant between 2011 and 2021, due to a “sustained real exchange rate appreciation and the existence of a considerable exchange rate gap”.

Source: Ambito

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