Import payments: from 30/60/90/120 staggering to 30 days

What changed

A progressive reduction of the term to access the FX market (MULC) and pay for goods imports. Com. 'A' 7917 (Dec 13, 2023) set, for the rest of goods (the non-exempt ones), a phased schedule: 25% at 30 calendar days, 25% at 60, 25% at 90 and 25% at 120 calendar days from the customs-entry registration (energy and fuels: immediate access; pharmaceuticals/food/fertilizers/agrochemicals: 30 days; finished vehicles: 180 days). Com. 'A' 8118 (Oct 17, 2024) unified that phasing: for imports made official from Oct 21, 2024 of the goods in points 10.10.1.3 and 10.10.1.4 of the consolidated Foreign and Exchange text, the deferred payment for the FOB value can be processed from 30 calendar days after the customs-entry registration. That is, the bulk of goods went from paying in four tranches (up to 120 days) to a single access at 30 days. INSTRUMENT CLARIFICATION: the convergence to 30 days was NOT done by A 7917 (which sets the initial phasing) but by A 8118; attributing the '30 days' to A 7917 is an error. verif · Oct 17, 2024 ↗

In force

The phased scheme is in force from Dec 13, 2023 (Com. 'A' 7917). The unification to 30 days applies to imports made official from Oct 21, 2024 (Com. 'A' 8118, dated Oct 17, 2024). In force. verif · Oct 21, 2024 ↗

Who it affects

Goods importers in general (all companies, regardless of size) and the financial institutions and exchange houses that grant MULC access. It especially benefits the industry that imports inputs and capital goods, by shortening the working capital immobilized between customs entry and payment to the foreign supplier. It keeps previous favorable exceptions: energy/fuels with immediate access and special terms (30 days) for pharmaceuticals, food, fertilizers and agrochemicals already contemplated since A 7917. verif · Oct 17, 2024 ↗

The norm

Two BCRA Comunicaciones. (1) Com. 'A' 7917, dated Dec 13, 2023, Ref. Circular CAMEX 1-998, 'Exterior y cambios. Adecuaciones.', in force 13.12.23 — sets the staggered schedule of 25% at 30/60/90/120 days for 'restantes bienes' (all other goods, point 1.2.iv) and repeals Com. 'A' 7904. (2) Com. 'A' 8118, dated Oct 17, 2024, Ref. Circular CAMEX 1-1029, 'Exterior y cambios. Adecuaciones.' — unifies access at 30 calendar days for imports cleared from Oct 21, 2024 onward (goods under points 10.10.1.3 and 10.10.1.4 of the consolidated Exterior y Cambios rules). Both texts read directly from the BCRA's official PDF. verif · Oct 17, 2024 ↗

Our reading

Import payments moved from the four-installment schedule that stretched the disbursement to 120 days to a single access at 30 days: less tied-up working capital, less uncertainty for those importing inputs and capital goods, and one more signal of FX-market normalization (R2 FX normalization + R4 deregulation of a control). It is the kind of predictability every export production chain asks for. What is worth watching is that the path of opening the currency controls holds without a reversal under reserve tension, but the direction —from 120 to 30 days, equalizing terms for all companies— is unequivocally that of lifting restrictions. thesis

Where it lands, province by province1

Neuquén The shortening of the import-payment term to 30 days (A 8118) reduces the working capital that the SMEs and service companies of the Vaca Muerta satellite chain must immobilize when importing upstream equipment, parts and inputs (non-exempt): less financial cost of the bridge between customs entry and payment to the supplier, better predictability to schedule equipment purchases. Energy/fuel upstream already had immediate access since A 7917, so the direct benefit concentrates in the satellite and capital-goods suppliers, not in the operator importing fuel/energy. favorable the RIGI promise is kept thesis

Import payments: from the phased 30/60/90/120 to 30 days

What changed and who it applies to

Our reading

Where it lands, province by province1

The other rules on this subject12

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