The first official economic measures of the government of Javier Milei in Argentina They brought news for the exporters of Uruguay through the announcement of the elimination of Import System of the Argentine Republic (SIRA) and what appears to be a modality that would facilitate trade with the neighboring country.
Although there is a lack of details regarding deadlines and effective application of the measures, the Minister of Economy Luis Caputo yesterday announced the first 10 “emergency” initiatives to organize the State’s public accounts. Among them, he drew particular attention to the Uruguayan export sectors the elimination of the SIRAs, the authorizations for imports that sought to unify the criteria of the organizations in charge of Argentine foreign trade.
This provision had already been advanced by the chancellor Diana Mondino during the annual summit of the Industrial Union of Argentina (UIA), when he referred to this system as “an extortion mechanism that creates obstacles and has no benefits” that the government of Freedom Advances (LLA) would delete accordingly.
Finally, Caputo confirmed that “the SIRA import system will be replaced by a statistical and information system of imports that will not require the approval of licenses.” The objective is to end “discretion” while “guaranteeing the transparency of the import approval process”.
For a part of Argentine industrial sectorHowever, the announcement raises concern: “The increases in imports are what will end up destroying the industry, beyond the indiscriminate opening,” he expressed. Daniel Moreira, holder of the SME Association, As reported Ambit of Argentina. “If imports increase, the price of the distributed inputs will also increase, which will make it impossible to produce,” said the businessman and warned that “the textile industry is the one that will suffer these impacts the fastest.”
Since the industrial cameras of larger size, choose, for the moment, to maintain restraint in terms of projections, although the output scheme of the SIRAs raises questions; as well as the destination of the accumulated commercial debt—more than 50 million dollars—and the exchange insurance.
A new air for Uruguayan exports
In Uruguay, Meanwhile, and although it is still early to measure the impacts of a measure of which not all the details are known, the elimination of SIRAs may be good news. Above all, considering that this system of greater control over access to dollars for imports in Argentina, cost at least 22.5 million dollars to the Uruguayan export sector, according to estimates by the Chamber of Industries of Uruguay (CIU).
This is in addition to the fact that, in the first four months of the year alone, local exports to the neighboring country went from 221.5 million to 167.6 million dollars, dropping their share as a destination from 6.2% to 5.3%. .
As explained by the Argentine Minister of Economy Caputo, “whoever wants to import, will now be able to do so, period.” For Uruguayan producers and industrialists, the measure would translate into easier exports.
In this sense, the Executive estimates that there are at least 600 import permits for Uruguayan goods pending authorization from Argentina, although these data correspond to June so currently the figure would be higher. The elimination of SIRAs would contribute to unblock these permissionseliminating existing obstacles and significantly streamlining processes and procedures.
Source: Ambito
