The Minister of Economy responded to the versions that emerged in the city last week about a possible change in the Government’s exchange rate policy. Less than a week before the elections, the official once again defended the gangs’ path.
The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, came out to deny a possible change to the current exchange rate scheme after the legislative elections next Sunday. As detailed by the official through his X account, “There will be no change to the current scheme.”
In detail, last week the Bloomberg agency attributed to the Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, a statement that anticipated a change in the Government’s policy on the dollar: “Argentina will have a floating exchange rate very soon,” detailed the portal.
The rumors aroused tensions in the city that is watching expectantly both the Government’s movements and the results of next Sunday’s elections.
On the eve, the dollar It once again set off market alarms in the final stretch towards the general elections. On Tuesday, the blue rose $40 (+2.7%) and reached a new nominal record of $1,545, according to City operators consulted by Scope. With this jump, the gap with the official exchange rate widened to 3.7%, in a day marked by pre-election coverage and scarce supply in the parallel market.
He official dollar, for its part, was one step away from $1,500 and very close to the ceiling of the exchange rate band, which forced the Central Bank to intervene again to contain the pressure. At Banco Nación, the retailer closed at $1,515, while the average of the entities stood at $1,513.04.
A market that cannot find calm
Despite official efforts, exchange tension persists. This Monday, the Argentine Government and the administration of Donald Trump announced a battery of measures to try to stop the escalation: a swap for US$20,000 million freely available and a repurchase of sovereign debt with loans from multilateral organizations, coordinated by JP Morgan Chase.
However, the initiatives failed to calm the market. “The demand for coverage remains firm, and interventions are no longer enough to stop the rise of the dollar, they barely manage to moderate it,” explained economist Gustavo Ber.
The question now concerns the reaction of the United States Treasury: whether it will reinforce sales to prevent the wholesale dollar from touching the ceiling of the band or will allow the BCRA to assume the cost of intervening with its own reserves.
Meanwhile, the group of banks headed by JP Morgan—along with Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup—continues to negotiate with Washington the guarantees to grant a US$20 billion loan to the Milei Government. According to The Wall Street Journalthe entities are seeking an explicit guarantee from the US Treasury to move forward with the operation and shield themselves from Argentine volatility.
The local market, for its part, operates under a single slogan: full coverage until after Sunday.
Source: Ambito
