The government is considering speeding up the import of capital goods as part of the measures it is evaluating to end bureaucratic obstacles to the economy, and boost exports with new lines of financing for SMEs with a 5-year term, the Minister of Production announced yesterday. , Francisco Cabrera. In the seminar on "The role of Development Banking in the XXI Century", the official highlighted the role that the state-owned Investment and Foreign Trade Bank (BICE), organizer of the meeting, will play in this, as a "spearhead for the improvement of productivity ”and“ fundamental articulator in infrastructure projects established in the public-private association ”. "It was a tough year for Argentina, but with a path towards the normalization of the economy that has not been paused and the prospects are very good," said Cabrera when opening the meeting.
The official revealed on the occasion that at the meeting of the economic cabinet at the Casa Rosada the ways to "lower the bureaucracy" in different areas were analyzed. Cabrera gave as an example the case of the importation of equipment for new capital goods lines that are not manufactured in the country: “They are extremely important for the competitiveness of the economy, but due to a special regime, the incorporation of these equipment took 9 years and We are lowering it to 90 days ”. The minister later considered that "the BICE bank was not fulfilling its role and it was difficult for it to insert itself into a deranged economy." "There is a very high expectation about the role that the bank has to fulfill, because the financial system has not been oriented to productive financing, and many of the 600,000 existing SMEs in the country do not have access to formal financing," said Cabrera.
BICE, added the minister, must also facilitate "Argentine integration to the world, after years of isolation, through export financing." Pablo García, president of the bank, anticipated in turn that "we are thinking of a new line to finance exports for terms of up to five years." So far, the institution has granted loans of up to one year in term for a maximum amount of 10 million dollars with fixed rates of between 3.5% and 4.5% for up to 210 days and between 4% and 5.5% for longer terms. García pointed out that in recent years development banks have concentrated on "addressing market failures, to complement financial systems." "In Argentina," he continued, "productive credit is highly concentrated in the short term and the differential we can have is to provide access to longer-term lines through funding with multilateral banks and capital markets, and then channel it through of commercial entities, acting as second-tier banking ”.
García highlighted BICE's orientation towards SMEs, with incentives for financial inclusion to massify and facilitate their access to the capital market, including underwriting instruments (securities pre-financing).