In the first month of the year, only 138,000 people agreed to purchase the US currency within the allowed quota of 200 dollars per month.
A small number compared to the record of 3,900,000 buyers reached in July 2020.
Dollar savings: why the purchase level fell sharply
The notable drop in the purchase of dollars at the official exchange rate is linked to the mid-December devaluation, which had an impact on the rise of the saving dollar even above financial and blue quotes.
Currently, the value of the official dollar ($860) added to the 30 percent surcharge for the COUNTRY tax and 30% as income tax collection, It is around 1,370 pesos.
Meanwhile, the informal currency is quoted at 1,085 pesos, the MEP at 1,077 pesos and the Cash with Settlement at 1,115 pesos. Added to this price disparity are the current restrictions that limit free purchasing.
Dollar: BCRA reported lower payments for imports
At the same time, last month there were also lower payments for imports, totaling 1,068 million dollars, 74 percent below the amount of January 2023, while exports earned 4,947 million US dollars.
The BCRA Report specified that payments for imports of goods in January were below FOB imports of goods, which totaled about 4,372 million dollars, “which would indicate an increase in commercial debt or a decrease in assets external”.
However, he stressed that “it is important to highlight that the BCRA awarded the of the entire BOPREAL series 1 offer for VN 5,000 million”, referring to the bond that the monetary authority launched for the payment of outstanding debts with importers.
BCRA: the situation of reserves
As for the rinternational reserves, The BCRA revealed that they increased by 4,569 million dollars in January, ending the month at a level of 27,642 million dollars.
At the same time, the Central Bank made net purchases in the exchange market for 3,272 million dollars, while net capital disbursements from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were received for 2,708 million dollars and the foreign currency holdings of the banks in the BCRA for 917 million dollars.
Likewise, the report reflected that foreign currency came out of net payments of interest and other financial debts from the Government and the BCRA for 1,677 million dollars and from international organizations for 474 million dollars.
Besides, the price in US dollars decreased of the assets that make up the reserves for 166 million dollars and for the net payments settled by the Central through the Local Currency Payment System for 11 million of the US currency.
With the income of Dollars Due to the liquidation of exports of goods and services above the payment of imports for US$3,963 million, the current account of the exchange balance registered a surplus of just 1,964 million dollars in January.
The difference was mainly due to interest payments.
Source: Ambito
