Dollar for tourists: the Central Bank confirmed changes from Friday

Consulted about the implementation of the “dollar card” for foreign tourists, Pesce stressed that “by Friday, at the latest, the system will be operational.”

How is the dollar for tourism?

The measure, made official through Communication “A” 7630, exempts payments made by “non-residents through debit, credit, purchase or prepaid cards issued abroad” from settlement in the exchange market.

Specifically, tourists, with this benefit, will have access to the MEP dollar exchange rate, which is currently quoted at $316, instead of the retailer that does so at $166, thus discouraging them from going to exchange their tickets for cash. in the informal market.

“We expected Visa to do it sooner. They tell us every day that it is being implemented,” he said about the reasons for the delay in its implementation – originally scheduled for the beginning of this month – pointing to credit card issuers who have to adopt the new system.

For his part, the president of the BCRA stressed that inflation “is slowing down” since July.

“We hope that this will continue during the month of November and December and that it converges until reaching the goal of 60% for next year. We are optimistic,” Pesce said in dialogue with the press after his closing speech at the Monetary and Banking Conference 2022 organized by the monetary institution at the Hilton Hotel in Puerto Madero.

Meanwhile, Pesce explained that the new edition of the Export Increase Program (PIE) – also known as the “soybean dollar” which establishes a differential exchange rate of $230 per unit – is due to the fact that “some soybean producers had remained with stocks “.

“Financial and economic conditions have changed since the end of the first special dollar for exploitation. There is an offer of more than US$ 3,000 million, which is very important to rebuild the Central Bank’s reserves,” argued the manager.

This measure, he ratified, “will help meet the goal of reserves that the Government has set”, of US$ 5,000 million by the end of the year.

Precisely Pesce emphasized that said goal will be met.

“We are going to meet the goal that we have set for the end of the year, especially with what comes in from the soybean dollar and other income that we are expecting from Chinese financing for dams, from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and other multilateral organizations,” he added.

Lastly, when referring to the Central Bank’s interest rate, Pesce pointed out that a change in them is not yet being evaluated and that this will depend on “the inflation results for the month of November.”