The government published the fine print of the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI) in the official gazette on Friday, meaning the scheme is now available for investors. While most of the RIGI remains identical to the project approved as part of the Ley Bases, the final version has incorporated new industries and changed some minimum investment requirements.

A central part of President Javier Milei’s Ley Bases, the RIGI aims to provide the long-term legal guarantees necessary to attract multi-million-dollar investment to ease the country’s international reserve crisis. Argentina still has strict foreign exchange restrictions, known as the “cepo,” which often scare off investors.

The RIGI originally offered tax, customs, legal, and foreign exchange benefits for investments in foreign currency exceeding US$200 million. In the final version published Friday, investments in the forestry, tourism, infrastructure, mining, technology, and steel sectors will remain eligible for these benefits. 

However, the minimum investment for offshore oil and gas exploration, as well as for gas extraction and production for export, is US$600 million. For oil and gas transportation and storage, the minimum is US$300 million. For other oil and gas-related projects, such as processing, refining, and fertilizer production, it is US$200 million.

Another surprise was the inclusion of electric and hybrid vehicle production in the technology sector. Other tech investments contemplated in the regime include those in the biotechnology, nanotechnology, air and satellite, software development, robotics, artificial intelligence, weapons, and defense industries.

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The final RIGI regulations also allow investors to inscribe projects in sectors that would otherwise be ineligible, so long as they stand to position Argentina “as a new long-term supplier in markets in which it does not yet have significant participation.” These projects would be classified as “long-term strategic export projects.” To be included in the RIGI, the minimum investment is US$2 billion.

The final version of the RIGI also requires companies to commit to hiring local suppliers of goods and services for at least 20% of the total project, so long as local suppliers are “available and in market conditions of price and quality.”

The RIGI has not yet been implemented in all of Argentina’s provinces, and some have announced they will not adhere to it. Critics also have mixed views as to whether the initiative will prosper if Argentina does not lift exchange restrictions. On Thursday, the United States Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment, José W. Fernández, told the Herald that the RIGI could be an incentive to invest.

“A company that is considering a major investment spoke very favorably of it — they cited it as something that has helped them make a decision,” the U.S. official said.