Banks ask to relax restrictions on granting loans in dollars, but the Central Bank resists

The rain of dollars for money laundering began a tug of war between the banks and the Government. Two months ago, some chambers of the financial sector approached him with a initiative to make access to credit in dollars more flexible For companies, a possibility that is enabled only for exporters, but that the Central Bank (BCRA) refuses to modify.

“We are discussing proposals with public organizations, including the BCRA, to incorporate medium and large companies that already have access to the capital market as subject to credit in dollars. and although they are not exporters, they have some products that are dollarized and that eventually withstand some stress test,” they said in one entity.

The initiative promoted by the banks –mainly from national capital-points to the construction whose inputs and assets are dollarized, or items linked to the export sector, such as provincial value chains, mining and hydrocarbons. The idea is that they can access a quota of 10 or 20% of the surplus of “argendollars” stored in the financial system.

In November, the Central Bank eliminated the additional capital requirement for cereal companies to access loans in dollars, but resists expanding access beyond sectors that generate foreign currencyas exporters, producers of raw materials and their suppliers of goods and services. “For now there are no changes in that,” official sources said.

The monetary authority established these restrictions in 2003 through Communication A4015 in order to prevent a mismatch from being repeated in companies with income in pesosas occurred with the devaluation and pesification after the “corralito”, which led savers to knock on the doors of banks during the 2001 crisis.

Now, a sector of the financial City sees a different situation: since Septembercompanies place debt in dollars at rates of up to 8% Through the issuance of Negotiable Obligations, the BCRA purchased US$ 3,000 million of reserves and Dollar deposits reached US$33.5 billion, a record level since 2019.

Even so, national capital entities complain that only 25% of placements in foreign currency were translated into loans in dollars to the private sector. According to a report from ADEBA, loans in dollars increased by US$3,238 million in the first 8 months, but they only represent 16% of total financing to the private sector.

“The financial system is in conditions and available to continue financing the economic reactivation, serving those sectors that need resources to increase their production. Also to finance households in their investment and consumption decisions, This also includes mortgage credit.”ADEBA said in a technical note in October.

The banking sector’s proposal looks tempting for some areas of the Ministry of Economy, where they know that Financing could help reactivate a key sector for employment, such as construction. The item showed a monthly rebound of 2.4% in September, but accumulated a fall of 29.5% in 9 months due to the strong adjustment in public spending and the recession.

The laundering dollars thus put the Government at a crossroads: that of enabling their use for accelerate the rebound in activity before the elections, through the expansion of credit to companies – as Luis Caputo pointed out on several occasions – or keep that “green mattress” still inside the deposits to avoid possible risks.

The banks recognize that the demand for loans in hard currency is also limited by the eventual lifting of the stocks. The possibility of this scenario occurring and trigger a devaluation causes exporters to go into debt in dollars with caution and they mostly take loans in pesos, although in both cases they receive pesos in practice.

Besides foreign entities are more likely to defend the maintenance of credit restrictions. “I do not think it is prudent to lend dollars to those who do not generate dollars. Undoing the banks’ balance sheets can be risky,” they said in an entity subject to the regulations of its parent company abroad.

“We must avoid the ‘bread for today and hunger for tomorrow’ of making the granting of loans in dollars more flexible, since These regulations were what made it possible to overcome large outflows of deposits without distress. for the financial system in the past,” warned Carlos Pérez, director of the Capital Foundation in a recent report.