Lowered 2 points for unpaid balances and set a maximum of 81.08% for balances on plastic statements issued by non-banking entities
By iProfessional
15/05/2023 – 16,22hs
The Central Bank reduced two points the interest rate for unpaid balances on Credit cards and set a ceiling of 81.08% on the interest rate to be applied by issuers that are not financial institutions.
The monetary authority ordered that the interest rate for financing unpaid credit card balances be reduced from 88 to 86%, seeking to cushion the effect of the rise to 97% of the monetary policy rate.
In addition, In the Official Gazette, a resolution was published that set the maximum rate that credit card issuers that are not financial institutions can apply at 81.08%, that is, it applies to cards issued by, for example, supermarkets or household appliance companies..
Consequently, there are two resolutions of different impact, since the first applies to all bank cards and the second only to those offered by a certain universe of mass consumption companies.
With this measure, the government seeks to mitigate the impact of the increase in the monetary policy rate in a consumer sector.
Fixed terms, cards and the dollar: Massa’s new measures
He Ministry of Economy will launch from this week a new package of economic measures tending to offset the effects of high inflation in April that reached 8.4%. The set of provisions contemplates the increase in the rate of fixed terms, a reduction of 9 points in the interest rate of the Ahora 12 plans and the qualification of the Central Market as an importer. In addition, there will be more official intervention to contain financial dollars.
Fixed-term interest rates go up again this week.
The measures were defined on Saturday at the Palace, where the head Sergio Massamet with his entire team and the president of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesce.
New rate for fixed terms
In principle, the fixed term interest rate will rise to 97%a significant increase compared to the current 91%. In this way, the monthly rate will remain at 8% and the annual effective rate will reach 152%.
Although the official announcement of the Central Bank (BCRA) remains, this measure is expected to come into effect this Monday.
Regarding plans with Credit cardsstarting next week the cost of financing will drop 9 percentage points in 12 installments. In this way, the consumption of products of national origin is promoted, which represent 5.8 million monthly operations for a total of more than 250 billion pesos.
Also, there will be a increase in refunds to vulnerable sectors due to consumption with Debit.
Intervention focused on financial dollars
As for the dollar, from Economy they let it be known that the BCRA will intervene forcefully in the market to control the prices of financial dollars (counted with liquidation and MEP). They also indicated that “the rhythm of the crawling peg” of the official dollar will be managed. In this way, it will seek to avoid any hint of a currency run, a scenario feared by Sergio Massa’s team.
With the new measure, the rhythm of the crawling peg of the official dollar will be managed
The authorities of the Ministry of Economy will also seek to speed up the agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)the swap with China and obtaining a credit guarantee through the New Development Bank of the countries that make up the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), for which Minister Massa will travel to Beijing on May 29 to participate in a meeting of the forum that brings together the main emerging powers.
On the other hand, a new role will be given to the Central Market. The entity will be enabled in the Registry of Importers. Given the detection of distortions in food prices by the Secretary of Commerce, due to the abuse of companies with a dominant market position, the Central Market may directly import these products with Zero Tariff, creating a greater supply of products without cost of brokerage.
Likewise, Economy promises to speed up the approval for the import of capital goods with SIRA at 360 days.
