Economy Minister Luis Caputo said Thursday that 48 projects worth almost US$210 billion have applied to RIGI, Argentina’s incentive regime for large investments, and that US$7.7 billion has been invested so far.
Thirty of the 48 projects are approved, worth about US$80 billion, Caputo said. The Economy Ministry counts a project as approved once its resolution is published in the Boletín Oficial, the government’s official gazette. Caputo said more applications will arrive in the coming months.
Speaking at a business round in Rosario that matched large projects with about 1,800 small and medium-sized suppliers, Caputo said the projects would create about 250,000 formal jobs and generate about US$50 billion in exports in 2030. He argued that the investments mean Argentina will not face exchange-rate problems.
Governors of Jujuy, Mendoza, Catamarca and San Juan, the mining provinces on the panels, backed the regime. Catamarca’s Raúl Jalil, a Peronist, defended it as a federal tool and said the policy of keeping public accounts in order will continue. Mendoza’s Alfredo Cornejo said mining had lacked stable national rules, and Jujuy’s Carlos Sadir said two approved lithium projects in his province would triple its installed capacity. At least ten governors attended, along with Cabinet chief Diego Santilli and Karina Milei, the president’s sister and secretary general of the presidency.
Caputo said it was the first round of its kind for suppliers and that more will follow.