Companies are no longer obliged to finance part of their debts outside the official market

The norm of BCRA established the obligation to finance 60% of the maturity, at least, to an average life of two years and was not extended by the monetary regulator after the end of its validity period. That is All companies that had monthly financial debt maturities had to begin a process of refinancing their international liabilities under the 40-60 rule..

Besides, They could not cancel debt between related firms and they had the obligation to pay with their own funds from abroad. Meanwhile, the debts that had been refinanced under that regulation did not have to be refinanced again and had access to the official exchange market.

At the same time, yes allowed access to the market for the payment of capital that did not exceed US$2 million per monthin order not to harm small and medium-sized companies.

Debt: a rule that was taken in an adverse context

The rule It was applied at a time when the BCRA reserve crisis was very strong and the projections were worrying and it was decided to extend it due to the expected effects of the drought, which made lose dollar income for US$20,000 million to Argentina in 2023.

In fact, according to a recent official statement from CIARA and CEC, during 2023, US$19,742 million were received in total, almost half of 2022. In December, agricultural exporters received US$1,245 million, which implied an annual drop. of 66%.

This meant that, during 2023, the restrictions on access to the dollar were reinforced by several in order to control the outflow of reserves in this complex context. One of these measures was the one that forced a large part of the companies’ debt in dollars to be financed outside the official market and the decision not to renew this regulation can be read as in a new flexibility of the exchange rate.

Why does the BCRA take this measure?

This gives a context of recomposition of reserves for about US$3,000 million which has been seen since the new Government took office and also when companies do not find the value of the official dollar so favorable compared to parallel exchange rates given that The gap was greatly reduced after the 54% devaluation that was applied on December 13.

The BCRA has been managing to buy dollars thanks to the strong devaluation it implemented. However, the economist and director of MyR Consultores, Fabio Rodríguezanticipates that “this situation is very much transitory and is not yet the product of a normalization of the exchange market and foreign trade flows.”

Notes that There is still a super embargo on imports despite the change in rules, so practically no private demand is seen in the market. And, as economist Federico Glustein explains, the import scenario is not yet normalized, which is why many continue to finance themselves outside the official market. In this context, he points out that The BCRA is taking advantage to buy dollars.

“In turn, exporters are advancing sales due to the ‘sweetener’ of the formula (official + CCL),” says Rodríguez. The economist explains that this brought a temporary calm and lowering of the gap, but anticipates that this could begin to change towards the end of January, preannouncing more tensions in the market and difficulties for the BCRA.

For its part, for the economist and director of CyT Economic Advisors, Camilo Tiscornia, believes that “this is a positive measure” in pursuit of freeing the exchange rate. But he recognizes, however, that this can impact the demand for foreign currency, given that it is also combined with a moment in which there will be a drop in the demand for money after the December peak.

“Are several elements that could put pressure on the exchange rate“, he warns. And he considers that “we have to see what happens in the future and if this implies that there will be an effect on the dollar in the short term.”