Companies in the hydrocarbon sector will be able to settle 25% of their exports at the CCL exchange rate, without losing access to the MULC.
A few days after the end of the soy dollar and on a day where financial dollars woke up, the Minister of Economy and candidate for president of Unión por la Patria (UP), Sergio Massa announced a new exchange rate measure. It is a “Vaca Muerta” dollarwhich will operate with a scheme similar to that of agriculture, and which will have a double objective: to wink at the sector, so that it closes the year with record investments, and to add currency settlement to avoid a new exchange rate run in the middle of the presidential election.
The benefit for companies in the hydrocarbon sector will mean that they will be able to settle 25% of their exports at the cash exchange rate (CCL), which this Tuesday closed at $778, without losing access to the single and free exchange market (MULC). ), where they settle at a wholesale exchange rate of $350.
Wink to the sector
The fine print of the measure was finalized this Monday night, at a dinner held by the economic team at Massa’s house, in Tigre. And this Tuesday morning it was announced at the Palacio de Hacienda in a meeting that Massa held with the most important businessmen in the sector: Marcelo Mindlin, owner of Pampa Energía, Miguel Galuccio, president of Vista, Pablo González, president of YPF, and representatives of Pan American Energy and Techint, among others.
At the meeting, Massa informed them that one of the objectives of this benefit is to promote investment. “After the primaries we saw that there was a slowdown in drilling, with businessmen fearful of how measures such as dollarization could impact their costs and competitiveness,” commented an official source.
Shield a run
In Economy they expect there to be settlements for US$1.2 billion in the next two months, especially with the price of crude oil on the rise internationally. Of those, it is expected that US$900 will enter through the MULC, and US$300 through the cable dollar. While it is initially for 30 days, until October 25, it is expected to be extended for another 30 days, until November 25.
Basically, in a context of negative net reserves, and in the face of extreme uncertainty regarding the presidential elections, Massa seeks to increase the supply of foreign currency to protect himself from another run. “They are not going to do the same thing to us again,” said a senior source from the Ministry of Economy, recalling the pressure on the dollar the week before the primaries, which had brought the exchange rate gap above 120%.
News in development
Source: Ambito
