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BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's government tightened controls on imports of equipmentand supplies by mining companies on Monday in a new measure toboost the trade surplus and foreign currency stocks. Mining companies operating in the South American country, whichinclude Xstrata , Barrick Gold Corp and AngloGold Ashanti , will have to get prior approval for overseas purchases and submitimport plans 120 days in advance. They will also have to consider swapping imports for locallyproduced goods, a government statement said. "(The controls will help) safeguard jobs, create new employmentopportunities and intensify the import substitution process," itsaid. Earlier this year, President Cristina Fernandez's center-leftadministration launched a new system to pre-approve, or reject,nearly every purchase from abroad. Latin America's No. 3 economy has also been pushing importers tomatch their purchases abroad with exports, leading to quirky dealssuch as one whereby carmaker BMW exports rice. Fernandez says such policies are needed to protect a localmanufacturing industry gutted during a burst of free-marketpolicies in the 1990s. They are drawing intense criticism from abroad, however, and theEuropean Union filed a suit against the import restrictions withthe World Trade Organization on Friday. Mining companies had been working with the government on a programof import substitution, but an industry source said Monday'sresolution was unexpected. The latest measure could deepen uncertainty among potentialinvestors. Brazil's Vale SA is reviewing a $5.9 billion potash project inArgentina, partly due to concerns about political uncertaintyrelated to import controls and the recent renationalization ofenergy company YPF. It is one of the biggest investments planned by Vale, the world'ssecond-largest mining company, which declined to comment on thelatest government measure. Compared with neighboring Chile or Peru, Argentina's miningindustry is relatively undeveloped. That has drawn interest fromglobal companies in recent years and overall investment reached arecord $2.6 billion in 2011. Soon after her re-election last year, Fernandez ordered energy andmining firms to cash in export revenues in the local market andordered tax officials to approve dollar purchases on a case-by-casebasis. Both measures were designed to counter galloping capital flight andbolster the central bank's foreign currency reserves, which thegovernment has earmarked for debt repayments for a third straightyear. Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved SUBSCRIBE to Mineweb.com's free daily newsletter now. I am an expert from sport-sunglass.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Custom Ski Goggles Manufacturer , Military Glasses, Children Sunglasses,and more.
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