I have said it for a long time: Argentina has, in the near future, a great challenge, but the expectations of change are concrete, and the future certainly appears different from the past.
The current crisis produced not only by climatic factors is great; but the potential for improvement is real and immeasurable. The country’s human capital, even deteriorated as it is at present, leveraged on the country’s structural advantages, has the capacity to reverse the current real situation.
I have been advising our Clients from abroad to place their investments in Argentina, when the assets, valued in foreign currencies, were (and continue to be until the time of writing), cheap, and the political and economic conditions were adverse.
The current economic crisis is very important. But like any crisis, it provides possibilities. And in this sense, for many months I have warned that the closed economy model, with high State intervention, must change, regardless of which political group and which candidate becomes President of the Nation, in December 2023.
Regardless of the political affiliation of the President who takes office, the model is exhausted and structural changes should be made. Personally, as a lover of freedom, I agree that changes that tend towards deregulation, the economic opening of the country and the reduction of the size of the State are the correct ones. Greater freedom is synonymous with progress and orderly development, with respect for people and their rights.
On several occasions I have spoken about the structural characteristics of some sectors of Argentina’s economy, which give it important comparative advantages with respect to other countries in the region and the world.
I have highlighted the potential of the agriculture and livestock sector, not only in the core production area, but in marginal areas of the national territory. To this primary sector, in recent times, due to technological changes, other primary wealth-generating sectors have been added, such as lithium mining and the extraction of unconventional hydrocarbons, which will be practiced in Vaca Muerta. National IT and services start-ups have stood out for their almost exponential growth level. These, with a backward exchange rate, have grown in quantity and diversity of benefits offered. The creation of apps and computer services from Argentina to abroad exploded.
These economic realities occur in Argentina, and have coexisted in an environment of high inflation, exchange restrictions, energy crises due to fuel shortages, restrictions on imports and exports, progressive social impoverishment and general discredit of political and social leaders.
In my case and with our Law Firm (www.nfla.com.ar), we have been the protagonist of the arrival of foreign investments, even in the midst of the crisis that our country experienced and continues to experience. Who would think of investing money in productive activities in Argentina, a country that today does not allow the profits legally earned here to be repatriated to the countries of origin of the investments? Have there been genuine investments? The answer to this second question is yes.
Argentina is a complex country, from several aspects, and has been in recent decades, with its political and economic ups and downs. But it is still a good market to invest and produce.
This is a country in which the rules of the game, until now, have changed frequently. I wish, for the good of the country and my professional activity, that we enter a new time of stability and institutionality, in which the rules are met and durable.
But even in these environments of instability and change, it is possible to do business in Argentina. The secret is to create an adequate legal structure and a dynamic productive organization that provides agility and rapid response to changes.
Investors are not naïve, altruistic or foolish. They are above all astute profit seekers. They invest in sectors, regions and activities from which they can make profits. Business is buying low, then producing and eventually selling high.
And over the last 18 months, at NFLA we have been witnesses and protagonists of real investments, in the computer services and agribusiness sector, by groups that have believed that entering or increasing participation in the Argentine markets is good business.
These investments were the result of important analysis, varied considerations and bold and committed corporate decisions by visionary Boards of Directors. But the fruits of those investments are beginning to be seen.
I understand that, due to circumstances, we are on the threshold of structural changes. If, as proclaimed, these changes tend towards freedom, they will inevitably be profound, because restrictions on trade, restrictions on private initiative and State intervention in the economy will be dismantled.
Argentina’s productive matrix, greatly damaged, is still standing. The primary and extractive sectors, if the weather is correct, and international markets maintain their trend, will be able to contribute, in the next two years, genuinely produced wealth, as they have not done in the last 6 years.
Therefore, today more than yesterday, I recommend looking closely at Argentina and, after a realistic analysis, investing here. In the coming years, if the changes that undoubtedly must be made are made, the course of the country will change. And from the Argentine platform, it is simple to enter the South American markets.
You have to be aware that you can make a good investment in the medium term, and have the decision to make it.

Marcelo Loprete
Buenos Aires, 05.12.2023