On August 4, 2022, Argentine Central Bank authorities (BCRA for its Spanish acronym) approved two measures to encourage exporters to repatriate and convert dollars which correspond to the advance payment of exports.

The first measure relates to the issuance of a dollar-denominated letter (the Letter). Through this Letter, banks involved in foreign trade operations can capture dollars which have been repatriated and deposited in bank accounts by exporters. In this way, the Central Bank will be able to bid for the money deposited through the issuance of this Letter.

It should be noted that: (i) several tenders will be called to issue the Letter; (ii) each tender will bear an the interest rate based on a spread over the SOFR rate and (iii) the Letter’s term will be 180 days, and can be cancelled ahead of time.

The second measure establishes that exporters selling their dollars 30+ days ahead of the mandatory date will have access to dollar-linked accounts.

These measures, expected to improve the current dynamic of the exchange market, might benefit the mining sector, among others.

For more information, please see the BCRA press release on this website.