SNI proposes 30 years of exemptions for new industries

In Congress, a new industry law is being cooked up that, for 20 or 30 years, will grant tax incentives to 8 strategic sectors to promote decentralization and industrial diversification in Peru, under the promise of achieving a GDP per capita close to US$20,000 by 2050.

At a meeting organized by SNI Last Monday, more than 250 mypes unions from various regions, in addition to congressmen María del Carmen Alva, Darwin Espinoza, Silvia Monteza, Ilich López, Elvis Vergara and the author of PL 5892 himself, José Jerí, guaranteed their open support. The objective is to approve it in the current legislature and have it in place from 2024.

The incentives that Somos Perú’s PL proposes are, basically, towards the reinvestment of profits and accelerated depreciation. The latter does not represent any loss for tax revenue, explains the general manager of the SNI, Antonio Castillo Garay.

However, it recognizes that this loss can occur in new investments when “A part of the IR is returned for spending with your profits”. A situation that, in the economist’s opinion, would only work the first year, since the following year the company “will pay its 29.5% IR again.”

“It only works for new investments and at the time you make the investment. In Peru, 15% was given to the agro-export sector, but there was no commitment to invest. Here there is that incentive,” he points out.

Furthermore, the law is not retroactive and would only work for companies that are founded in the future, so SNI rules out a setback for the company. collection.

Not all are exemptions

The new law also proposes a fund with a state guarantee – similar to Reactiva Perú – aimed at industrial development, as occurs in Colombia, Chile, Brazil or Mexico. The new law provides industrialists with credits that allow them to acquire machinery in the medium term, in order to “improve their productivity.”

Additionally, an organization is implemented that centralizes government promotion. The SNI questions that there are up to 18 entities that provide service to small businesses, but disaggregated.

“Today we do not have a way for small business owners to reach a single organization where they can also participate,” warns Castillo.

Another key is to lower the price of electricity. Highly consumption-intensive companies, such as bakeries and metalworking workshops, would become free users (they directly negotiate the cost of energy with the generators, instead of paying domestic rates) if they register consumption equal to or greater than 50 kW. Today the fence is 200 kW.

Labor costs intact

The law has found favorable winds in Congress and civil society, but not from the foreign trade sector. Neither BCRP, IPE nor Minam have given their approval.

The manager of Economic Studies at Comex, Rafael Zacnich, maintains that the new law has an angular flaw: it does not attack labor flexibility (as the agrarian promotion regime did) nor the current model “that generates cost overruns and keeps workers in informality.” more than 87% of micro and small businesses.”

And although Zacnich sees the proposal of a Single Window of Mype e Industria, points out that it is “unlikely that the law will comply with attracting mypes to formality.”

“When you want to propose targeted policies, you have to define them with an internationally validated technical methodology; You cannot handpick which sectors to give a benefit to,” she asserts.

Industrialize and generate cluster for mypes

The 8 sectors proposed by the SNI are agribusiness and biotechnology, fishing and aquaculture, forestry, textiles and clothing, naval industry, renewable energy, energy efficiency and electromobility, mining suppliers, ICT and digital content.

The Lima Chamber of Commerce (CCL) has also joined the initiative.

Through the exemption of IR, It also seeks to promote investments in high Andean and Amazonian areas.

Mypes contribute 21% of the GDP and provide work for 60% of the employed EAP of Peru.