The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) has established that financial institutions may allocate part of their deposits in dollars to finance importers of Argentine products or services. Based on the decision adopted today by the Board of Directors of the BCRA, banks will be able to give this variant of loans in dollars through two ways: directly to the importer or through lines of credit to any foreign bank that participates in the operation.
Through this mechanism, Argentine banks will be able to become a source of funding for clients of Argentine exporting companies abroad, fulfilling a role similar to that played by development banks in other countries (such as Brazil’s BNDES, for example). In this way, the growing savings capacity in dollars of the financial system can be used to boost our country’s export capacity, increase its productivity and boost its economy.
This flexibility contemplates the possibility of obtaining benefits in cases where importing companies or their correspondent banks enjoy a more favorable credit rating than their local counterparts.
The private sector’s dollar deposits have registered a permanent growth since the exchange rate unification ordered in December 2015 and other policies implemented by the BCRA. Currently, foreign currency deposits in the private sector exceed 24,000 million dollars, while loans granted in the same currency are below 11,000 million dollars. This easing of credit policy will help to take advantage of part of the idle lending capacity verified in the Argentine financial system.
