For two years Argentina’s Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI) was treated in the business press as a synonym for energy and mining. The record supports that reading: of the projects approved so far, the largest are Vicuña, the BHP–Lundin joint venture in San Juan at USD 18 billion, and Glencore’s El Pachón and MARA at USD 13.5 billion combined.

But the regime lists infrastructure and tourism among its eight eligible sectors, and both open doors for large-scale property and logistics projects. For anyone evaluating Argentine commercial real estate, three things matter more than the headline threshold, and all three are routinely left out of the coverage.

The window closes permanently in July 2027. The binding constraint is not the USD 200 million floor but the requirement to deploy 40% of it within two years. And provincial adhesion is a separate condition that determines whether the benefits reach a given site at all.

What RIGI is

RIGI was created by Title VII of Law 27,742, the Ley Bases, enacted in July 2024 and regulated by Decree 749/2024. It offers tax, customs and currency stability for up to thirty years to projects clearing sector-specific investment thresholds.

It is not a generic benefit. Adhesion requires a Single Project Vehicle (VPU) whose sole purpose is executing one approved project, with no unrelated activities or assets. Eligible vehicle forms include corporations and limited-liability companies, branches of foreign companies, dedicated branches, and temporary unions or other associative contracts. The Application Authority has 90 business days to approve or reject a submitted plan.

The eight eligible sectors are forestry industry, tourism, infrastructure, mining, technology, steel, energy, and oil and gas. Two of those matter directly to property: infrastructure covers the physical structures, networks and systems required for land, maritime, river, port or rail logistics to function; tourism opens a route for hotel and resort development that most RIGI coverage aimed at property investors omits entirely.

The deadline, which is now final

This is the single most decision-relevant fact in the file, and it is usually stated incompletely.

The original adhesion window ran two years from entry into force, expiring 8 July 2026. Article 168 of the law authorised the Executive to extend it once only, by up to one year. Decree 105/2026, published in February, exercised that power: the window now closes on 8 July 2027.

There is no second extension available. As the Economy Ministry put it when announcing the measure, once that period elapses the opportunity to access the regime’s benefits ends. A VPU structured after July 2027 is outside the regime permanently.

For a project requiring financial close, environmental permitting and provincial coordination, that is not a distant date. It is roughly eleven months of structuring time.

The thresholds

Project type Minimum investment Relevance to property and logistics
General threshold (including infrastructure and tourism) USD 200,000,000 The operative floor for a logistics or hospitality VPU
Oil and gas transport and storage USD 300,000,000 Terminals, pipelines and associated storage
Oil and gas E&P for export USD 600,000,000 Indirect: drives satellite logistics demand
New onshore hydrocarbon developments USD 600,000,000 Added by Decree 105/2026 for areas without significant prior development
Offshore exploration and production USD 200,000,000 Lowered from USD 600m by Decree 105/2026, reflecting the segment’s risk and capital profile

Figures sometimes cited for Long-Term Strategic Export Projects (PEELP) and for a sectoral ceiling around USD 900 million could not be confirmed against primary sources for this article and should be verified directly in Decree 749/2024 as amended before use.

The requirement that actually decides feasibility

The USD 200 million floor gets the attention. The disbursement rule is what determines whether a property project can realistically use the regime.

At least 40% of the minimum investment must be executed within the project’s first two years. On a USD 200 million commitment that is USD 80 million deployed inside 24 months. The Executive may reduce the requirement, but not below 20%.

For an energy or mining project, front-loaded capital expenditure is the norm. For a logistics park built in phases against pre-lease commitments, it is a different proposition entirely: the regime rewards concentrated deployment and penalises the staged build-out that logistics development normally favours. Any consortium pooling assets under a single VPU has to solve for that profile, not just for the headline number.

A second condition: VPUs must commit at least 20% of total investment to payments to local suppliers. For import-heavy projects — racking, automation, refrigeration — that shapes procurement strategy from the outset.

Provincial adhesion: the condition that decides location

RIGI is a national regime, and its stability guarantees reach national taxes. For an investment located in a province to obtain the benefits, that jurisdiction must expressly adhere to the regime. Nineteen provinces have done so.

This is more useful than the general observation that provincial and municipal taxes fall outside national protection. It means site selection carries a binary regulatory test before any commercial analysis: is the province in, or not. Municipalities are adding their own layers in parallel — Rawson, in San Juan, sent its own municipal incentive regime to council in March 2026, targeting industrial parks, logistics hubs and renewable plants with local rate exemptions of up to twenty years.

The benefits

Beyond thirty-year stability, the concrete items are specific enough to model:

  • Income tax at 25%, against the general 35% rate.
  • Accelerated depreciation: movable goods over no fewer than two annual instalments; infrastructure works over 60% of useful life.
  • Dividends taxed at 7%, falling to 3.5% after seven years.
  • Tax losses carried forward without time limit and transferable to third parties from year five.
  • VAT on investment settled through tax credit certificates.
  • Bank debits and credits tax creditable in full against income tax.
  • Import duty exemption on capital goods, spares, parts and components.
  • Progressive release from the obligation to repatriate export proceeds, with shorter timelines for projects declared long-term strategic exports. The specific release percentages and their timing should be confirmed against the current text of the regulation, which has been amended.

The currency question, stated accurately

Coverage of RIGI routinely credits the April 2025 removal of the cepo with giving foreign capital a dollar exit route. That is true for resident individuals. It is only partly true for companies, and the difference matters for a fund modelling repatriation.

Corporate access to the FX market for dividend remittance remains conditioned: profits may be remitted to non-resident shareholders for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2025, while retained earnings from earlier years remain blocked. Restrictions on buying dollars for hoarding persist, as does the cross-restriction barring access to financial dollar markets for a period after operating in the official one.

This does not undermine the RIGI case — the regime’s currency benefits exist precisely because the general framework is still restrictive. It does mean the benefit should be modelled as an exemption from a live constraint rather than as a general condition of openness. And it is tied to the continuity of the band scheme in force since 2025: if that changes, the assumptions change with it.

Where property actually fits

RIGI was not built for a shopping centre or a boutique office tower, and it does not replace the conventional Buenos Aires market. Three fronts are realistic.

Logistics and distribution infrastructure. As regional supply chains reroute toward the Southern Cone, demand for Class-A sheds near ports and road corridors has grown. A VPU can fund a full logistics park with fiscal stability for decades — subject to the 40% deployment profile discussed above.

Tourism assets. This is the underused route. Tourism is an eligible sector in its own right, which means a hotel, resort or integrated tourism development clearing USD 200 million can adhere directly, without needing to attach itself to an energy or infrastructure project.

Satellite demand around approved hubs. This is the indirect channel and the more accessible one. Where RIGI unlocks a mining or energy hub — Vicuña in San Juan, El Pachón, MARA in Catamarca, Vaca Muerta — demand follows for worker accommodation, proximity retail, services and regional logistics. A private developer captures that demand without being inside the regime, at investment scales far below USD 200 million.

For most property investors, the third channel is the realistic one. The first two require capital that only a consortium or an international fund assembles.

The parallel regimes, distinguished

Two other frameworks are frequently confused with RIGI and with each other.

RIMI, the Medium-Size Investment Incentive Regime, was created by Law 27,802, the Labour Modernisation Law sanctioned in February 2026, regulated by Decree 242/2026, and made fully operational in May 2026 by Joint General Resolution 5849/2026 issued by ARCA together with the Secretariats of Energy and of Agriculture. It covers all economic activities but is restricted to micro, small and medium enterprises in brackets I and II, with a threshold reported at around USD 150,000. It is the route through which a mid-size logistics development might obtain incentives without pooling into a giant consortium — though practitioners have noted that its benefits are materially thinner than RIGI’s.

The “Súper RIGI” moves in the opposite direction. Sent to Congress in May 2026 and given committee approval in the Chamber of Deputies on 17 June, it would create an autonomous regime complementary to RIGI for investments of at least USD 1 billion in “new economic activities” — industrial, technological or service projects tied to strategic technological and digital infrastructure not currently developed in Argentina, or developed only at experimental or pilot scale. It raises the floor for megaprojects; it does not lower the entry point for anyone else. As of writing it remains a bill, not law.

Risks and fine print

RIGI is not an unconditional safe conduct.

  • Execution timelines carry penalties. The 40% two-year rule is enforceable, not aspirational.
  • The VPU structure adds cost. A single-purpose vehicle with no unrelated assets means separate corporate, accounting and compliance infrastructure.
  • Provincial coverage is not automatic. Nineteen provinces have adhered; the rest have not.
  • Approval is discretionary. The Application Authority evaluates against the regime’s priority objectives; the regulation is explicit that benefits are to be applied rigorously to minimise distortion.
  • The currency benefit depends on the band scheme in force since 2025.
  • Composition matters. Of the 27 proposals presented and 10 approved, representing more than USD 25.4 billion, mining and hydrocarbons dominate. A property or logistics VPU would be entering a queue evaluated largely against extractive precedents.

Conclusions

RIGI has moved from legislative promise to operating framework with a verifiable record: more than USD 25 billion in approved commitments across ten projects in under two years. For commercial real estate its relevance runs along two channels of very different accessibility.

The direct channel — a logistics, infrastructure or tourism VPU — requires USD 200 million, 40% of it deployed within two years, 20% directed to local suppliers, a province that has adhered, and a filing before 8 July 2027, after which the regime closes permanently. That is a narrow gate, and the capital profile it demands is closer to an energy project than to a phased property development.

The indirect channel is where most property investors will actually operate: the satellite demand generated around approved hubs, capturable at conventional investment scales and without adhering to anything. On current evidence, that is where RIGI touches Argentine real estate most.

Verification checklist

Item Where to verify Watch for
Adhesion deadline Law 27,742 art. 168; Decree 105/2026 8 July 2027; extension power already exercised and exhausted
Thresholds Decree 749/2024 as amended by Decree 105/2026 Offshore lowered to USD 200m; new onshore category at USD 600m
PEELP and USD 900m ceiling Decree 749/2024, art. 29 Not confirmed for this article; verify before citing
40% disbursement rule Law 27,742; regulation Reducible by the Executive but not below 20%
Provincial adhesion Provincial legislation 19 provinces adhered; confirm the specific jurisdiction
Export-proceeds release Current text of the regulation Percentages and timing have been amended
Corporate FX access BCRA communications Dividends only from financial years beginning 2025 onward
Súper RIGI status Congress Bill with committee approval 17 June 2026; not yet law

Sources

Law 27,742 (Ley de Bases y Puntos de Partida para la Libertad de los Argentinos), Title VII; Decree 749/2024 (RIGI regulation); Decree 105/2026 (extension and amendments); Resolution 1074/2024; Law 27,802 (Labour Modernisation) and Decree 242/2026 creating and regulating RIMI; Joint General Resolution 5849/2026 (ARCA, Secretariats of Energy and Agriculture); Ministry of Economy statements on the extension; Argentine Foreign Ministry investor guides (Singapore and New York offices); InfoLEG and Boletín Oficial; commentary from KPMG Argentina, Deloitte, Pozo Gowland Abogados and Microjuris; reporting by Infobae, Aduana News, Diario de Cuyo and Palabras del Derecho.

General information on commercial property markets. Not investment, tax or legal advice. RIGI thresholds, deadlines and benefits are regulated matters subject to change; the regulation was amended in February 2026 and the Súper RIGI bill remains before Congress. Two figures cited in circulation — the PEELP thresholds and a sectoral ceiling near USD 900 million — could not be confirmed against primary sources for this article. Before structuring any investment under this regime, licensed legal and accounting advice in Argentina is essential.