70% of the value of an imported luxury car is tax

According to its characteristics and range, an imported vehicle is today subject to a tax pressure ranging from 96% to 209% on the value arriving at the port. On average, the tax burden ratio to the value of the vehicle is approximately 70% of the final value of the 0km and places it among the most expensive in the world. For national cars, the impact of the tax burden is around 54%.

The government wants to keep income tax at 30% in 2021

The government has submitted a bill to Congress to maintain the corporate income tax rate at 30% for this year and postpone until 2022 the timetable for reducing it to 25% as provided in the 2017 Tax Reform. The reduction was suspended for the whole of last year and reinstated on 1 January.

Moody’s Local Argentina warns of rising bank defaults in 2021

Moody's Local Argentina forecasts an impairment of bank assets subject to credit risk during the first quarters of 2021, in line with the completion of this measure and the subsidies in soft loans guaranteed by the government, which at December 2020 totalled more than 766 billion pesos ($8.95 bn).

International corn price at $206.5 per ton, the highest in almost eight years

The international price of maize is $206.5 per ton, the highest in almost eight years. The sharp cut in the US production estimate and growing Chinese demand pushed up prices. The yellow grain entered the public arena in these 15 days due to the government's suspension of exports until March, an issue that triggered a marketing halt by three of the four entities of the Mesa de Enlace and a strike, so the measure was left without effect yesterday by the same government.

Change in withholding tax calculation makes vehicle exports more expensive by 12%

With the changes introduced in how withholding taxes on car exports calculated, local terminals already anticipate a reduction in estimates of foreign sales and, consequently, production. Until the end of the year, the surcharge for each 0 km exported was 4%. Now the tax is 4.5%. While the country needs dollars, the controversial measure takes away local automakers' competitiveness and punishes more those vehicles with more domestic parts.

COVID-19: 30% reduction in the frequency of international flights

The government decided to restrict international flights to and from the country because of the increase in COVID-19 infections. The measure provides for a 30% reduction in weekly frequencies arriving at Ezeiza International Airport.

Central Bank limits import of luxury goods to slow outflow of dollar reserves

The central bank of Argentina on Wednesday imposed a new rule limiting the import of foreign luxury goods as part of its effort to stanch the leakage of its own international currency reserves. The new rule states that importers will have to get their financing from overseas or wait a year to pay their overseas supplier, all in an effort to slow outflow of central bank dollar reserves.

The government closed exports of about 4.27 mn tons of maize to prioritize the domestic market

The government temporarily closed the register of maize exports to supply the grain to sectors that use it as a raw material to produce animal protein on the domestic market and contain food prices. The measure aims to make the 4.27 million tonnes available during the summer months when cereal supply tends to be tight.

From January, will again tax soybean exports at a rate of 33%

In October of this year and the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the government launched a package of economic measures that included a temporary three-month ban on exports from the soybean complex. This reduction ends on the last day of 2020 and will not renew.

Knowledge-Economy celebrates 0% withholding and plans to export $10 bn per year

The retention was 5% until the regulation; now with its elimination, the sector faces an ambitious plan: increase from 115,000 to 500,000 jobs in ten years, and export up to $10 billion a year. Currently, Knowledge-Based Services (KBS) companies export close to $6 billion a year, a figure that places the sector as the third-largest export complex in the country.