Argentina to introduce new investment framework for emerging sectors

Argentina will submit a bill to Congress this week introducing a new incentive program with expanded benefits to attract major foreign investments, President Javier Milei said.

RIGI stands for Régimen de Incentivo a las Grandes Inversiones -- literally, the Large Investment Incentive Regime. It was created by Milei's administration in 2024 to attract large-scale projects in strategic sectors such as energy, mining, infrastructure and industry, News.Az reports, citing UPI.

The proposed "Super RIGI" seeks to draw capital into economic sectors that remain underdeveloped, according to the government.

"We will send Congress a law on the SUPER RIGI, which has greater advantages than the original RIGI and will apply to sectors that have never existed in Argentina," Milei wrote on X.

The president said the new framework would "create new companies that meet the productive needs of the new dynamic sectors of the economy while multiplying the number of jobs."

The announcement followed Milei's official trip to the United States last week, which focused on meetings with companies interested in investing in Argentina. Among the most significant meetings was one with executives from Chevron, which had already announced a $10 billion investment tied to the current incentive plan.

During a press conference, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said the new proposal responds to the need to expand tax incentives to promote the industrialization of natural resources.

Caputo estimated the plan could attract between $20 billion and $30 billion in investments. He also said it would generate "a large number of jobs over the coming years" and have "an extraordinary impact on the economy."

Caputo said the government's goal is for Argentina to move beyond exporting raw materials and advance toward producing higher value-added industrial goods. He cited lithium batteries, electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines as examples, along with projects related to uranium processing.

He also mentioned the possibility of attracting investments in sectors such as fishing, fertilizer production and other activities linked to natural resource development.

Caputo said the new plan would offer advantages beyond those included in the current RIGI framework, including reducing the corporate tax rate to 15%.

"This is not a short-term scheme. It is a scheme that future governments will benefit from. This is intended to transform Argentina's productive matrix by encouraging the industrialization of our resources," he said.

Argentina is replacing its high progressive corporate tax system with targeted incentives for large investors. Under the current RIGI framework, projects exceeding $200 million qualify for a fixed 25% tax rate instead of the standard scale of up to 35%. The proposed Super RIGI could reduce that rate further to 15% to improve Argentina's competitiveness for major investments.

Final details of the plan, including the minimum investment required to qualify for benefits, will be released in the coming days when the bill reaches Congress.

Economist Federico Vacarezza, a professor of international trade at Austral University, told UPI the proposal appears aimed at boosting economic activities that have sluggish development in Argentina.

He pointed to sectors related to artificial intelligence, data centers and other large-scale technology investments.

"This future government measure would pursue two objectives. The first would be to turn Argentina into a platform for large-scale technology and energy investments. The second would be to compete globally for capital by offering a very aggressive package of tax, foreign exchange and regulatory advantages," Vacarezza said.

He also linked the announcement to the government's efforts to strengthen ties with international technology leaders, noting that the announcement came two days after Milei met at the presidential palace with Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and an investor associated with Silicon Valley companies.

Vacarezza said the meeting helped to clarify the type of capital the government hopes to attract through the new framework, particularly high-risk technology investments.

The framework includes tax benefits such as reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%, export exemptions and mechanisms allowing companies to recover taxes during the initial stages of projects. It also provides for international arbitration in dispute resolution.

According to government data, the total volume of investments linked to the RIGI, including approved projects and others still under review, amounts to $95 billion. Of that, projects already authorized $27.2 billion, while another 22 pending projects account for $67.8 billion.

Most of those investments are concentrated in the energy and mining sectors.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli