BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)–Argentina’s Economy Minister Amado Boudou said Friday night that starting next week all individuals and businesses that buy foreign currency will be subject to an automatic background check by the tax authority.
The measure, which is to take effect Monday, is the latest in a series of policies announced this week that seek to reduce pressure on the central bank’s international reserves amid elevated levels of capital flight.
Boudou told reporters that Afip, as the tax agency is known, will automatically cross-check a buyer’s requested foreign-currency purchase with his declared income to eliminate irregular transactions, government news agency Telam reported.
«We want all [transactions] to be channeled through the formal market; eliminating the inequality between those who pay taxes and those who don’t, deterring money laundering, and giving greater transparency to the market,» he was quoted as saying.
The administration of President Cristina Kirchner has resorted to increasingly strict measures to increase the supply of dollars on the local market.
Reserves closed at $47.6 billion Thursday, down from about $50 billion at the end of August due to unrelenting demand for dollars.
The latest foreign-exchange control follows new rules that require foreigners buying Argentine companies and real estate to deposit the full amount of the transaction in Argentina. Oil and mining companies now must also repatriate the proceeds of export sales, while insurance companies have to bring all offshore investment home before the year’s end.
Earlier this week, the central bank along with inspectors from Afip and the anti-money-laundering agency launched a broad audit of foreign-exchange houses in the nation’s capital that local press described as an attempt to dissuade dollar purchases by the public.
Boudou said he wasn’t worried about foreign-currency outflows.
«Anyone who wants to buy dollars has been able to do so,» he said, adding that the central bank, «has the capacity to continue managing the exchange rate.»
The peso was quoted closing at ARS4.2360/USD on Argentina’s MAE foreign-exchange wholesale market Friday, compared to Thursday’s close at ARS4.2355. So far, the peso has weakened 6.1% versus the dollar this year.
-By Ken Parks, Dow Jones Newswires; 54-11-4103-6740; ken.parks@dowjones.com
–Alberto Messer contributed to this article.
Source: /online.wsj.com