The Cashed With Settlement dollar (CCL) rose strongly yesterday and started 2024 above the price of the MEP, after the Central Bank (BCRA) decided to eliminate limits on dollar transfers to bank accounts.
In this framework, the CCL dollar rose $24.14 (2.5%) to $997.45. In this way, it reached almost three-week highs when the currency reached $1,016.71 on December 14. In this way, it was once again above the MEP, which lost $3.70 (0.4%) to $991.30.
Thus, the spread between the CCL and the official exchange rate was 23%, while that of the MEP was 22.3%.
For its part, the blue dollar plummeted $20 (2%) to $1,005, so the gap with the official dollar was reduced to 24%.
In this context, economist Gustavo Ber assured Ámbito that “the climate of exchange rate calm would continue in January,” despite the skyrocketing inflation. Even, in his opinion, it is likely that the dollar will remain close to $1,000. “This is because, in the short term, the tactical appetite for ‘carry-trade’ would continue to prevail, which leads to capturing rates of around 9% monthly, beyond being well below inflation,” explained the economist.
Other analysts also agreed that the exchange rate could continue, at least in the short term, because “there is less demand for pesos.”
In that sense, Andrés Reschini, from F2 Soluciones Financieras, predicted that “even with a certain calm in the exchange rate, it is expected that the price of blue will firm up a little,” but added that “if the current management continues to manage to advance with its program, it is likely that the advance is less than inflation.”
In this context, the official retail dollar closed at $851.14, while the wholesale dollar rose $2.25 (0.3%) to $810.70. The card dollar, for its part, closed at $1,328.40.
Finally, the Central Bank (BCRA) began 2024 by strongly slowing down dollar purchases in the Single and Free Exchange Market (MULC), acquiring only US$89 million. In this way, since Javier Milei landed in the Casa Rosada, the monetary authority has acquired US$2,951 million.
Source: Ambito
