Argentina's Banco de Inversión y Comercio Exterior SA, or BICE, has started repurchasing promissory notes in the capital market as it looks to reduce the interest rates used for the financing of small and medium-sized companies, or SMEs, Bloomberg News reported, citing two sources.
According to the report that was published in El Cronista, Production Minister Francisco Cabrera, who represents the Argentine government as a majority shareholder in the bank, approved the buybacks, one of the sources was cited as saying.
The SMEs segment is greatly affected by the latest series of interest rate hikes implemented by Banco Central de la República Argentina to stem the rise of the U.S. dollar, the report said. The regulator pushed the benchmark rate to 40% early May to halt the peso's depreciation and bring inflation under control.
The bank's repurchases have driven rates to fall to 35% from 41%, the report said.
