Global Trade Alert

On 3 November 2015, the government of Argentina approved a new credit line for agricultural cooperatives classified as either micro or SME entities. The total amount of funds allocated by the government for this credit line is 600,000,000 Argentinian Pesos (USD 63,751,470.00). The maximum amount of funds that a cooperative can receive is determined by the credit analysis conducted by the Banco de la Nacion Argentina (BNA) and cannot exceed 30,000,000 Argentinian Pesos (USD 3,187,573.50). Furthermore, the cooperatives cannot subsequently allocate more than 500,000Argentinian Pesos(USD 53,126.22) to their individual members.
The crediting period for the financing of investment initiatives will be up to 10 years, while for the financing of the working capital and evolution costs up to 1 year. The interest rate for the financing of investments is 17.5% per annum during the initial 3 years of the crediting period, while for the subsequent period a variable rate determined by Argentina's BADLAR rate is applied (plus 3 percentage points on an annual basis). The interest rate for the financing of working capital and evolution costs is 23% and BNA will discount 2 percentage points of the annual interest rate (this discount is in addition to the 4 percentage points that will be reduced\discounted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries).
 
The deadline for the application for this credit line is 30 June 2016.
 
The GTA includes state guarantees and other financial incentives that are likely to affect the restructuring and performance of firms facing international competition, whether from imports, in export markets, and from foreign subsidiaries.