According to the Radar SME Survey of the 3rd Quarter of 2024, 84.2% of businessmen affirm that the economy is in recession or depression. It was carried out by Association of National Businessmen and Businesswomen for Argentine Development (ENAC) and had the participation of 400 companies from 22 provinces of the country.
This high percentage arose in response to the consultation on the macroeconomic condition of Argentina, where the 57.5% assured that they are in recession and 26.8% in depression. On the other hand, a small percentage (11%) considered it stable, while another even smaller percentage (4.7%) considered it growing.
Another important focus of the report was around the adjustmentwhere the 73.7% of those surveyed responded that SMEs and workers are paying for it. It should be noted that no one contradicted him, since a 20.8% considered that it is partial, while the remaining 3% did not answer. This represents a framework of disappointment in the promises of Javier Milei’s governmentand the concern of the sector grows.
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Furthermore, the 43.8% of SME entrepreneurs responded that They believe that labor flexibility will totally or partially help SMEs. At the other extreme, a 34.5% of businessmen consider that Labor flexibility will neither help nor harm SMEs what speaks of a reform that is either unknown or has little real weight.
SMEs already represent 12% of Argentine exports
Exports from SMEs grew 23.5%, reaching US$7,369 million, which represents 12.2% of the total exported by Argentina in the January-September 2024 period. This week the Government confirmed that it will launch a RIGI for SMEs.
In volume, they exported 6.4 million tons, 33.5% more than the first 9 accumulated months of 2023. With these values, small and medium-sized companies exported, on average, US$1,146 per ton.
Of the 6,095 companies that exported in this period, 4,179 are SMEs; That is to say, in said period 68.6% of the operators are SMEs.
This is how it arises from SME Export Monitor (MEP), an indicator prepared by the Statistics and Reports sector of the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME), to measure the exports of small and medium-sized companies in the Argentine Republic, based on the monthly monitoring of the operations of Argentine companies in foreign trade.
A RIGI for SMEs is expected
The Secretary of Industry, Juan Pazo, confirmed that the Government is going to launch a General Incentive Regime for Large Investors (RIGI) for SMEs. He said it will be for “incremental” investments and will include accelerated amortization.
“We are working on a productive investment regime with accelerated amortization and a specific VAT regime”, Pazo pointed outjust as Ambito anticipated, in a public talk he had with the president of the Argentine Chamber of Steel (ACERO), Martín Berardi, at the close of the international meeting.
The official announced that the benefits expected for the SMEs that enter the future scheme “will be for incremental investments“because in this way it would avoid affecting the government’s current tax revenues, while indicating that one of the sectors that can benefit from this will be agricultural machinery.
Despite coming from a government in which trade openness and market policies are being valued, Pazo said he “shares the view” that the steel sector has regarding the agenda for the Argentine industry in particular and for the sector at the regional level.
For now, although he did not anticipate that Javier Milei’s government will implement protection measures as requested by industrialists, he expressed that “Any fiscal improvement that there is will be used to reduce taxes.”which is one of the elements demanded by the productive sector.
Source: Ambito
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