He Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU) together with industrialists, analyzed different ways to move towards a solution regarding the million-dollar debt maintained by importers of Argentina with Uruguayan exporters, a problem that increased during the past year.
The authorities of the BCU They received directors of the Chamber of Industries of Uruguay (CIU), who described how payment operations work in foreign trade and proposed promoting the implementation of the Payment System in Local Currencies (SML), which has been in force since the middle of last year.
The debt of Argentine importers amounts to more than 80 million dollars, according to estimates by the Union of Exporters of Uruguay (UEU), that seeks to make a record to keep track of the total amount.
Diego Labat recognized the “good disposition” of Javier Milei’s government
According to what was revealed at the close of the meeting, the president of the BCU, Diego Labat, highlighted “the good disposition and optimism” of the new Argentine government headed by the president Javier Milei in relation to “working to honor debt commitments.”
The view coincides with that of the exporters, who first of all positively valued the end of the SIRAs, the management tool Alberto Fernandez to accept or not imports, which in the sector they described as “discretionary.”
The expectation of the industrialists is that a new meeting will take place in the coming days, after the meeting in which the vice president of the BCU also participated, Washington Ribeiro; the head of Infrastructure and Payment System Projects, Antonio Zarrillo; the president of the CIU, Fernando Pache; the president of the Foreign Trade Commission, Washington Durán; and the director of Foreign Trade Operations of the CIU, Caesar Bourdiel.
Measured expectation of exporters by Bopreal
Meanwhile, the Uruguayan exporters continue to observe Bopreal, the tool launched by the Argentine government to try to solve the problem of importers’ commercial debt.
The Bonds for the Reconstruction of a Free Argentina awarded 904 million dollars in their last tender of the Series 1 and in this way the administration of Milei exhausted the 5,000 million scheduled for January.
Now him Central Bank of the Argentine Republic announced the schedule for the Series 2 and 3 of Bopreal. The first of them will be next week and will continue with weekly tenders until the maximum amount of 2,000 million dollars is covered. Something similar will happen with Series 3, this one with a maximum amount of 3,000 million dollars.
In that sense, exporters agree on the importance of the bonus generating confidence. From the sector they clarify that “to access dollars, the bonds have to be marketed”, so it is key to know “what acceptance they have among Argentine importers.”
Source: Ambito
