Argentine Central Bank gives importers the possibility to subscribe securities that provide certainty, predictability and liquidity to their debt stock prior to December 12, 2023

The Argentine Executive established through Decree No. 70/2023 on December 22, 2023, the payment-in-kind for certain bonds and securities for debtors of imports of goods with customs entry registrations and/or imports of services effectively rendered—up to and including December 12, 2023—to cancel their tax and customs obligations plus interests, fines, and accessories. The application, collection, and supervision of these obligations must be done by the Federal Tax Authority (AFIP).

The bonds or securities authorized for this mechanism are those expressly accepted by AFIP and issued as from December 22, 2023, and up to March 31, 2024. The holders of these instruments may freely transfer them.

The calculation of the instruments to be used as payment of overdue tax and customs obligations will be limited to USD 3,500,000,000,000.

Subscribing this type of securities—payable in USD—will be subject to the Tax for an Inclusive and Supportive Argentina (PAIS), for the total amount of the transaction for which the securities are settled. The applicable rate will be 0% if the settlement is made until January 31, 2024. After then, the applicable rate for imports of goods and services will apply.

Likewise, through Communications "A" 7925 and "B" 12695, the Argentine Central Bank (BCRA) established the regulation for eligible importers of goods or services with debts until December 12, 2023, to subscribe the securities ‘Bonos para la Reconstrucción de una Argentina Libre’ (BOPREAL), for up to the amount of the outstanding debt of their imports.

As from December 26, 2023, the BCRA will begin to offer the first series of these new instruments (BOPREAL Series 1) through periodic tenders. The other two series (BOPREAL Series 2 and BOPREAL Series 3) will be offered once the list of debts for imports of goods and services that AFIP and the Secretariat of Commerce and Industry communicated has been prepared.

Importers subscribing the BOPREALs corresponding to the longest term the BCRA offers, prior to December 31, 2023, and for an amount equal to or greater than 50% of the total outstanding amount of their eligible debts, may access the foreign exchange market (FX Market) as from February 1, 2024 to pay such commercial debts for the goods and services they imported before December 13, 2023, for a total of 5% the amount of the subscribed securities. The amounts awarded in the primary bidding of the different BOPREAL series will be deducted from the outstanding debt balances with access to the FX Market. Likewise, they must submit the affidavits involving securities transactions required to access the FX Market, temporarily excluding those who have been dollarized in any way.

Finally, the Decree establishes that BOPREALs’ sales with settlement in foreign currency in Argentina or abroad, or transfers of these securities to depositories abroad, when made by those who participated in the primary subscription and for up to the amount acquired, will not be considered a transaction excluding the FX Market.