Through Communique “A” 7375 (the “Communique”) dated October 28, 2021, the Argentine Central Bank (the “BCRA,” after its acronym in Spanish) permanently modified the supplementary rules on payments for imports of goods, which had already been temporarily modified by Communique “A” 7375, in force until October 31, 2021.

First, the Communique included at-sight payments or commercial debt payments without customs entry registration as an exception to the requirement of prior BCRA approval to access the foreign exchange market. For this exception to apply, the transaction must correspond to the import of inputs to be used for the production of goods in the country. In addition, the total amount of the payments made must not exceed, in the current calendar month and in the group of entities, the amount obtained by considering the average of the total amount of imports of nationalized goods in the last twelve calendar months. The entity must have a sworn statement issued by the client, stating that the above conditions have been fulfilled.

Second, the Communique extends, until November 30, 2021, the suspension that had already been provided by Communique “A” 7375 banning access to the foreign exchange market for the purpose of prepaying imports for the acquisition of capital goods. In addition, as from December 1, 2021, this section will be modified to re-enable access to the foreign exchange market for the realization of payments with pending customs entry registration intended for the acquisition of capital goods, as long as:

  • the ttal amount of the advance payments does not exceed 30% of the total amount of the goods to be imported; and
  • the ttal amount of advance payments, at-sight payments, and commercial debt payments without customs entry registration does not exceed 80% of the total amount of the goods to be imported.

Third, the supplementary rules temporarily modified (until October 31, 2021) by Communique “A” 7375 were permanently modified. For further information, please see the article on Communique “A” 7375 ().

Finally, the BCRA established that the acquisition of foreign securities in the country with settlement in pesos will also be included among the transactions for which entities must require customers to submit a sworn statement, stating that on the day on which they requested access to the foreign exchange market and the 90 days prior and subsequent to that date, they have not arranged or will not arrange sales in the country of securities with settlement in foreign currency or exchanges of securities for other foreign assets or transfers to depositary entities abroad.