Although the national government froze dollarization in Argentina for now, INDEC revealed a key fact for Javier Milei’s initiative in the electoral campaign: the statistical organization estimated that the amount of Argentine dollars outside the domestic financial system grew 32% in the last five years until reaching US$271.00 million last September.
Official data indicated that at the end of the second quarter of 2023, citizens store bank accounts declared abroad or cash notes outside the local financial system in safe deposit boxes.lu$s271,499 million.
The organization indicated that this total increased US$10,009 million compared to the same period of the previous year and US$6,551 million in relation to the closing of the second quarter of 2023.
But compared to recent years, the “Argentine dollars in the mattress” skyrocketed. According to INDEC, in the third quarter of 2018 they were US$204,807, while the maximum peak was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020, when it was close to US$300,000 million.
The balance of payments for the third quarter closed in 2023
The balance of payments showed at the end of the third quarter of the year a deficit of US$6,103 millionfaced with a negative balance of US$3,506 million in the same period of 2022, reported the INDEC. This increase in the deficit occurred at the same time that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) recorded a fall of 0.8% between both periods, detailed the Indec. The result of the Balance of payments It brings together all movements of merchandise, goods and services abroad.
Meanwhile, the stock of total gross external debt with debt securities at residual nominal value as of September 30, 2023 was estimated at US$283,517 millionwhich represented an increase compared to the US$271,776 million of the same month of 2022
During the third quarter of 2023, the current account balance recorded a decrease of US$2,597 million compared to the same quarter of the previous year. This decline “was mainly attributed to a notable year-on-year decrease in goods exports, which represented the largest drop among the components of the current account,” totaling US$5,146 million.
In addition, imports of goods also showed a decrease between periods, registering a drop of US$2,627 million. The deficit in the balance of services in the third quarter of 2023 was estimated at US$1,743 million.
Although the balance of this exchange continues to be negative, an improvement in US$322 million compared to that observed a year ago, as a consequence of the growth in exports of services, while imports of the same item decreased slightly.
The deficit in the primary income account reached US$3,447 millionwhich represented a deterioration of US$420 million compared to that registered a year ago. This was mainly driven by the estimated negative balance for investment income, which amounted to US$3,427 million.
Secondary income remained positive, estimated at US$461 million, US$20 million more than that registered in the same quarter of 2022.
Indec considered that the balance of the capital account amounted to US$35 million and, that as a consequence of this, the financing needs of the third quarter of 2023 for the Argentine economy amounted to US$6,067 million.
Source: Ambito
