Dollar: the measures that the Government is betting on to avoid a strong devaluation

Dollar: the measures that the Government is betting on to avoid a strong devaluation

new whitewash

The 2023 budget that entered Congress includes money laundering, to use dollars for imports, as business chambers have been demanding, given the restrictions maintained by the Central Bank. In any case, the project must be approved by the opposition, which last year overturned the budget.

According to private sector sources, The Government expects that money laundering could involve US $ 10 billion in all of 2023, since it would also allow the use of dollars to purchase used properties, and not only for construction, as is already established. Sources from the economic team told Ámbito that they hope that the exchange of information between Argentina and the United States of undeclared accounts can “tempt” investors and transform that “threat into an opportunity.”

Money laundering is included in article 72 of the bill and is called “Argentine Investment and Production Incentive Regime”. It establishes that foreign currency that has not been declared before the AFIP may be externalized for one year in a special deposit and cancellation account for investment (Cepro.Ar). “Declared funds should be affected, only, to the transfer of foreign currency for the payment of imports for consumption, including services, destined for productive processes,” says the text.

Also, The project responds to one of the queries most frequently asked by interested businessmen: at what exchange rate will the “dollar ticket” be taken?: “The valuation of foreign currency will be considered at the official exchange rate of Banco Nación”, says the project. Like all money laundering, it includes the payment of a tax, which ranges from 5% to 20%, depending on the terms of the declaration.

The idea of ​​laundering arose publicly from the Business Confederation (Cgera), which was taken to the Secretary of Industry, José Ignacio de Mendiguren, and then to his counterpart in Commerce, Matías Tombolini. In dialogue with Ámbito, De Mendiguren opined: “My obsession is the level of activity, and without investment you don’t get out. We must encourage the investment of the small network, and in another scenario we will have to give the discussion if it was done well or badly, but today those dollars are needed”.

Sector split

A measure that is being debated at this time between Economy and the Central Bank to add more dollars is a “sectoral split”, with an exchange rate close to $300, almost double the official rate. The premise is that it be for sectors where a devaluation “does not imply inflation”, as was the case with the soybean dollar. The “techno dollar” could enter there to promote greater exports in the knowledge economy: the private sector estimates that there are u$s 2,000 million per year that enter through the blue market.

Making the exchange rate more expensive also seeks to discourage the outflow of dollars through sectors such as tourism. In the first seven months, $3.872 billion was used, almost four times as much as in the same period in 2021 ($1.058 billion), according to Eco Go. Nevertheless, Economy observes some cons for a “Qatar dollar”: by way of increasing the advance of profits, they fear that it will be prosecuted. And the path of passing those expenses to the MEP dollar could widen a greater gap with the financiers, and stop collecting the Country taxthe tribute that increased its collection the most so far this year: $208 billion in the accumulated January-August, 270% more than in 2021.

However, measures of the “unwinding” type for now do not have the endorsement of the entire coalition, with doubts from President Alberto Fernández and his vice president, Cristina Kirchner. In addition, in Economy they consider that they must be taken in an “integral” way, and not in an isolated way, taking into account other measures, such as an agreement on prices and wages.

Source: Ambito

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