Overview

• APyME’s Eduardo Fernández reports total encaje rose from 30% to 53.5% in August and bond encaje from 9% to 18.5%, pushing real rates he deems impossible to bear.
• He says credit for consumption and business financing has effectively disappeared, removing a core driver of domestic demand and working capital for firms.
• Fundación Observatorio Pyme finds industrial PyME employment fell 4.7% year over year in the second quarter, with about 25% of companies reducing staff alongside losses of 155,000 jobs in the pandemic and 250,000 in the past 18 months.
• INDEC data show June imports at US$6.37 billion, a 35.9% annual increase, reinforcing reports of intensified competition from foreign goods.
• One third of industrial PyMEs report losing market share to imports and 45% perceive an import threat, the highest since 2007, as APyME warns closures could echo the 2001 crisis.