Argentina's government ended a required holding period for foreign capital in a decree published in the official gazette on Thursday, in order to attract investment with the country mired in recession. The finance ministry said in a statement it had eliminated "the last barrier to entry of foreign capital." Previously, investors had to wait 120 days to repatriate funds they had moved into Latin America's No 3 economy.

The measure was one of the first signed by Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne who took office this week, one year into center-right President Mauricio Macri's term. Macri's administration has implemented several reforms to reintegrate Argentina back into the global economy. They include removing capital controls, relaxing reserve and deposit requirements, and ending a debt dispute with hold-out creditors.

Still, a wave of investment promised by Macri has been slow to arrive, with Argentina's economy failing to grow and inflation expected to have ended 2016 at around 40 percent. Former Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay had decreased the mandatory investment holding period from 365 days to 120 days. Holding periods are aimed at preventing market speculation.

Macri asked Prat-Gay to step down last week, citing differences in management style. He split the finance minister job in two, a treasury division led by Dujovne and a finance division led by Prat-Gay's former deputy Luis Caputo. Dujovne, who is considered more of a fiscal hawk, has pledged a swifter decrease in the fiscal deficit and a broad tax reform.

Copyright Reuters, 2017