Cepo to the dollar: the Central Bank increases access for laboratories

The Banco Central (BCRA) decided loosen the trap exchange rate for some pharmaceutical and diagnostic supplies. Weeks ago, both laboratories and the reagents sector had warned about the missing of medical supplies that could complicate the provision of health services in the coming months.

After several claims from the sectoral chambers before the Ministry of Health and the BCRA, finally this Thursday the monetary authority ordered exempt from the requirements to access the official dollar to pay for imports of pharmaceutical products and/or supplies, to the extent that they are used for locally made.

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So yeah will not be subject to the incremental import quota in relation to previous years (which established a dollar cap for 2022 equivalent to 105% of what they had imported in 2021 or 170% of foreign purchases made in 2020).

Nor will they have to request financing from 180 to be able to carry out these imports at the official exchange rate, as established by the previous regulations. Rather, they will have “at sight” access to the official foreign exchange marketafter submitting a signed affidavit to your bank stating that the products will be used in the locally made of medications.

What medicines will enter the country without exchange barriers

The flexibility does not cover any product, but a list of 27 tariff positions of the common Mercosur nomenclature. Fundamentally, it is about pharmaceutical supplies. According to the list that appears in Communication “A” 7507, some of the released products are:

• Sangre human; Animal blood prepared for therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic uses; serums with antibodies.
• Vaccinestoxins, cultures of microorganisms (except yeasts), and cell cultures.
• Medicines (whether or not put up for retail sale) containing penicillin or its derivatives.
• antibiotics with penicillins and their derivatives.
• Insulin.
• Provitamins and vitaminsnatural or synthetically reproduced.
• glands and else organs for medical treatment uses.
• Heparin.

The laboratories obtained a more important release for the importation of supplies than the diagnostic reagents. Among the tariff positions that this last sector had suggested to the BCRA to release, only one was included in the communication published this Thursday (the one that refers to blood, serum with antibodies and vaccines, among other products).

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Conversely, the sector will continue to wait for the opening of foreign trade for the purchase of:

• means of crop preparations for the growth or maintenance of microorganisms (including viruses and similar organisms) or plant, human or animal cells.
• Diagnostic reagents for cell separation for use in transplants.
• pipes for transplants.