Editorial illustration — RIGI • Incentive Regime for Large Investments • Law 27.742 • Argentina 2024–2026

  SPECIAL ANALYSIS • ECONOMY • INVESTMENT 

🏛️ WHAT IS RIGI

📅 May 2026 ⏱ Reading time: approx. 14 minutes 🇦🇷 Argentine Economy

Keywords: RIGI Argentina • Incentive Regime for Large Investments • Law 27742 • Law of Bases • foreign investment • Vaca Muerta • mining • VPU • fiscal stability 30 years • ICSID • tax benefits Argentina 2026

The Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI) is a promotional program created by Articles 164 to 228 of Title VII of Law 27,742, sanctioned on June 28, 2024 and published in the Official Gazette on July 8, 2024. It is part of the so-called "Law of Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines", the largest package of structural reforms of the government of Javier Milei. The RIGI was regulated by Decree 749/2024 (August 2024) and complemented by AFIP General Resolution 5590/2024 and Decree 940/2024. In February 2026, Decree 105/2026 extended the deadline for membership until 8 July 2027.

The logic of the RIGI is based on a clear diagnosis: Argentina has enormous potential in natural resources and energy – lithium, copper, oil, gas, renewables – but lacks the private investment to develop them at scale. The cost of capital in the country is prohibitively high due to the history of regulatory, exchange rate and tax instability. The RIGI seeks to "advance" macroeconomic solutions that under normal conditions would require decades, offering investors a predictable legal and fiscal environment for 30 years.

The backbone of the RIGI is the Single Project Vehicle (VPU). To access the regime, investors must constitute a legal entity whose sole and exclusive purpose is to carry out the approved project. The VPU can take the form of a commercial company, a branch of a foreign company, a temporary union (UTE) or other associative contracts. The rule is strict: the VPU cannot have assets or activities outside the project, except those strictly necessary for the administration of funds.

One variant is the "dedicated branch": a company already operating in Argentina can create a branch specific to the RIGI project, isolating those assets from the rest of its operations. This figure allows multinationals already established in the country to access the regime without dissolving their existing structure.

Once approved, the VPU enjoys all the benefits of the RIGI for the life of the project. If you fail to qualify, you may be discharged from the scheme and lose accrued benefits. The execution period varies depending on the project, but the law requires that at least 40% of the minimum investment required be made within the first two years of accession.

The RIGI offers the most extensive package of tax, customs and exchange benefits in recent Argentine history

💰 Tax Benefits

🚢 Customs Benefits

💱 Exchange Benefits

⚖️ Legal Stability: 30 Years of Fixed Rules

The benefit most valued by investors is not fiscal but legal: stability for 30 years. During this period, the State guarantees that:

1.      The VPU may not be affected by the repeal of the RIGI or by more burdensome regulations than those in force at the time of accession.

2.     The participating provinces and municipalities may not impose new local taxes, except for remuneration rates for services effectively rendered.

3.     In the event of a dispute, the investor can go directly to ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, World Bank), avoiding Argentine justice.

4.    If a future rule is more beneficial to the VPU, the VPU may choose to apply it in place of the original regime.

The RIGI was the most controversial point of the Basic Law: the debate between development and sovereignty is still open in 2026

The RIGI was, from its conception, the most debated and questioned chapter of the Basic Law. The critics come from very diverse spectrums: heterodox economists, environmental organizations such as Greenpeace, research foundations such as FUNDAR and FARN, SME unions, opposition legislators and even some sectors of the local business establishment. Their objections are articulated in four main axes.

💸 The Fiscal Impact Argument

Economist Martin Reydó (Fundar) argues that the RIGI represents "the core of the government's proposal" and warns that "tax benefits minimize tax revenues; in this way, an essential way for the exploitation of natural resources to benefit the Nation as a whole is sterilized."

The exact fiscal cost of RIGI has not been officially calculated or published. Private estimates vary widely depending on the projects that are actually developed. What is clear is that the difference between the general rate of Profits (35%) and that of the RIGI (25%) implies a tax "donation" of 10 percentage points on the profits of projects that, together, could exceed USD 60,000 million.

🌱 The Environmental Issue

Article 193 of the Basic Law establishes that inputs for strategic export projects must be guaranteed "regardless of whether it affects domestic supply." Cristian Fernández (FARN) warns: "If water is affected by mining projects and, suddenly, there is a context of drought, the water supply for the communities will not matter because the water will be given to the mining companies."

Greenpeace was even more categorical in its statement of June 13, 2024, warning that the RIGI does not impose prior environmental impact assessment conditions and does not guarantee consultation with local populations or indigenous peoples, which violates the National Constitution and the international treaties on environmental and indigenous rights signed by Argentina.

⚖️ The ICSID Problem

Direct access to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the World Bank's arbitral tribunal, is one of RIGI's most controversial points. Argentina already has a painful history with that court: after the 2001 crisis, it was ordered to pay millions of dollars to foreign investors. The fact that the RIGI enshrines direct access to ICSID by law – without going through Argentine judicial instances – is interpreted by critics as a cession of legal sovereignty over resources that are owned by the State.

As of May 2026: 12 projects approved for USD 25,479 M and others for USD 37,600 M under evaluation — total in portfolio: USD 63,079 M

As of May 2026, RIGI has 12 approved projects for a total of USD 25,479 million, with another 20 projects under evaluation that would add an additional USD 37,600 million. The total in the portfolio – approved plus under evaluation – exceeds USD 63,000 million, equivalent to approximately 9% of Argentina's GDP. According to the government, these projects will generate 36,873 direct and indirect jobs.

The sectoral distribution is revealing: 72-75% of the approved amounts correspond to energy and oil/gas, 24-26% to mining (lithium, copper, gold). Other sectors – industrial, logistics infrastructure – account for only 2-3% of the total. In terms of geography, San Juan leads in projected employment (12,939 positions), followed by Santa Fe (9,700 through the port of Timbúes) and Salta/Rio Negro.

The most advanced project under execution is the El Quemado Solar Park (Mendoza), which already injects energy into the national electricity system and will be the largest photovoltaic park in the country when it reaches 305 MW. The most ambitious in amount is Argentina LNG (USD 6,878 M), which would position the country as an exporter of liquefied natural gas for the first time in its history.

In February 2026, Decree 105/2026 extended the deadline for joining the RIGI for one year – from July 2026 to July 2027 – using the only extension allowed by law. The decree also expanded the sectoral scope of the regime to include the "exploitation and production of new developments of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons onshore," with a minimum investment of USD 600 million for those projects.

The Secretary of Mining, Luis Lucero, had anticipated at a sectoral event: "My personal recommendation will be to extend the RIGI, because it reflects the economic model to which we aspire: without withholdings, with lower taxes and agile procedures." The extension was interpreted by the market as a sign of continuity and solidity of the regime.

To size the RIGI package, it is convenient to compare it with the general tax regime that governs the rest of the companies in Argentina:

RIGI is, in essence, a high-risk bet with high-return potential. The risk is real: ceding part of the legal and fiscal sovereignty for 30 years in strategic sectors is a decision that commits the country far beyond the government that made it. The potential benefits are also real: if projects are executed as planned, Argentina could transform its balance of payments, generate tens of thousands of jobs, and finance a development process that would otherwise have taken decades.

The first year of the RIGI – with 12 projects approved and the first meters of pipeline installed in Vaca Muerta Sur – shows that the regime has the capacity to attract capital. But it also shows its limits: the almost exclusive concentration in energy and mining, the practically zero effect on industrial employment and the paradox of negative net FDI in the same period.

The debate will remain open as long as the RIGI is in force. What seems indisputable is that this is the most significant structural reform that Argentina has attempted in terms of attracting investment since the privatizations of the 1990s, with all the promises and all the risks that this comparison entails.

📚 Sources and References

5.     Infoleg — Decree 749/2024 • Regulation of RIGI (servicios.infoleg.gob.ar)

6.    Argentina.gob.ar — RIGI: from today, companies will be able to apply to the regime (October 2024)

7.     Argentine Embassy in Portugal — RIGI: Extension and modifications (February 2026)

8.    La Nación — RIGI projects are advancing: 10 initiatives for USD 25,479 M (January 2026)

9.    Infobae — The success of RIGI (December 2025) • Approved projects (December 2025)

10.  Canal26 — RIGI Effect: The 12 Projects and 36,000 Jobs (May 2026)

11.    Grant Thornton Argentina — RIGI: What You Need to Know (August 2024); One year after its regulation (December 2025)

12.   Profile — RIGI: the doubts generated by the most controversial point of the Bases Law (June 2024)

13.   TSS Agency — Impacts of RIGI, one year after its implementation (2025)

14.  Greenpeace Argentina — On the approval of the RIGI (June 2024)

15.   Shale24 — RIGI Final Map: Approved and Pending Projects 2026 (January 2026)

16.  NY Consulate (Chancellery) — RIGI Investor Guide (cnyor.cancilleria.gob.ar)

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