In the midst of the debate due to the exchange delay and the disappearance of the current account surplus, the government seeks new sources so that the Central Bank (BCRA) It is done from net reserves. Therefore, on Thursday at the last minute the monetary entity flexible access to credit in dollars The economic team seeks to squeeze the only mechanism that contributed currencies in recent months. Banks are market with strangely short placations. Any dollar is celebrated.
About the end of last week, The BCRA eliminated the restriction that prevented since February 2016 that the financial institutions provide the funds obtained through placing abroad to non -export clients. Now banks can lend dollars to any client regardless of whether or not they generate currencies, as long as the funds come from abroad.
The deregulation of Credit in dollars It has been discussed in the sector since the middle of last year. International entities are against dismantling regulations They were imposed after the 2001 crisis, while national banks ask to “update them.”
Among this last group, they consider that the measure announced “benefits companies and people who will have more financing options” and clarify that “it will not be a massive thing.” In addition, they clarify that “the impediment of lending dollars to non -exporters is still valid.” Although Trajectory analysts warn that “indirectly a deposit can end up invested in an asset that is used to fund a non -export loan in dollars.”
In any case, The Government sent a first signal that will advance in the Credit deregulation in dollars. Although within the economic team there are differences on the risks that a deepening could bring in this regard, the priority today seems to be put to improve the position of net reserves.
Dollar credits: limits and risks
From the success of the money laundering, Dollar credit became a fundamental tool for the Central Bank to accumulate net reserves. This happens because the credit policyholder is obliged to immediately change the currencies for pesos in the change free market.
As the local currency rate exceeded (and exceeds) the rhythm of early devaluation in the exchange tab, the profits were and are guaranteed. The former Vice President of the BCRA, Jorge Carrera, considered that without that mechanism, the net reserves would be in a field even more negative than the current 9,000 million.
In the sector, they estimate that there are still a growth margin of around US $ 3,000 million of the dollar loans. Carrera warns that with the new dollar loan scheme “there is a higher risk” And he puts on the table a central issue: “In our financial system there is no lender of last instance in dollars, except at this time.”
Reservations: The banks maneuver
With the discussion due to the exchange delay on the table, the deposits falling by dripping from the end of the laundering and the current account in red, Any dollar that joins net reserves is welcome.
Perhaps that is why, nobody questioned a maneuver that some banks have been carrying out for some months with ultra short placations, between 3 and 6 months to facilitate a vehicle to companies that want to dollarize and cannot because of the stocks. In jargon they call it “fronting.”
“The movement is as follows. The bank tend a negotiable obligation (ON) in very short dollars, in the tender it is the same bank that subscribes with its dollars but the day of the liquidation is sold to companies against pesoswhich end up dollaring at 3/6 months, ”a trajectory operator in the market told this medium.
The operations of this type intensified with the entry of currencies produced by bleaching. Before the consultation of this media, the businessman said: “The BCRA looks the other way because what produced by the ON is sold in the Mulc and accumulates net reserves.”
Source: Ambito
