Objectives and Plans for 2026
During 2026, the BCRA will develop its policies guided by the main objectives of the economic stabilization program: to advance in the disinflation process, extend the horizon of financial stability and lay the foundations for sustained economic growth. The progress achieved since 2024, in coordination with the National Treasury, allowed eliminating fiscal and financial dominance, resolving the inherited excess of monetary liquidity(overhang) and cleaning up the BCRA’s balance sheet.
The flexibility in the foreign exchange and interest rate markets incorporated in 2025, together with the solid fundamentals of the economic program, the strong support of the international financial community and the credibility built around the economic policy, have made it possible to broaden the macroeconomic planning horizon and create favorable conditions to move forward to a new phase. This stage of the program, characterized by the prospect of the re-monetization of the economy, makes the sustainability of economic growth compatible with price stability and the strengthening of the BCRA’s liquid reserves. In this way, BCRA policy will balance two objectives: maintaining domestic monetary equilibrium consistent with a sustained reduction in inflation and showing further progress in external equilibrium, strengthening the Central Bank’s balance sheet through the accumulation of international reserves.
The previous elimination of interest-bearing liabilities of the Central Bank (financial dominance) and the low levels of monetization of the economy constitute initial conditions that provide ample room for action to achieve these objectives. The monitoring and control of monetary aggregates will be crucial in this next stage of remonetization. In this stage,the money supply will accompany the recovery of money demand, prioritizing its supply through the accumulation of international reserves. To this end, the BCRA has indicated that it will implement a pre-announced international reserves purchase program as of January 1, 2026.
This program will be consistent with the evolution of money demand and exchange market liquidity. In the first case, the BCRA will maintain a bias in its monetary policy to avoid sustained sterilization efforts as long as money demand evolves as expected. As for foreign exchange liquidity, initially, the daily execution amount will be aligned with a 5% share of the foreign exchange market volume. In addition, the BCRA will be able to make block purchases that could otherwise affect the smooth functioning and stability of the market.
Central to this process will be the parallel process of recovering access to international debt markets to refinance the National Treasury’s capital maturities. This process, together with the growth of financing in the external market for companies, will allow the flow of reserve purchases, on this occasion, to translate into an increase in the BCRA’s stock of international reserves, as long as they do not have to be used to meet principal and interest maturities.
The calibration of monetary policy will be based on the evolution of inflation, its relationship with the level of activity and the financial conditions that determine money demand. As long as the observed inflation remains above international inflation, the BCRA will maintain a contractionary monetary bias with respect to the path of money demand estimated in its Monetary Program for 2026.
In order to manage the amount of money derived from the reserve purchase program, the BCRA will continue to use conventional and prudential tools: open market operations and operations with repurchase commitments. The latter repo passive operations with financial institutions will be agreed daily at the interest rate defined by the BCRA, taking as a reference the levels observed in the secondary market of LECAPs. The active repo window will remain in force with the current restrictions as to the amount and term available. The interest rate on the lending rate will be set by the BCRA by applying a premium over the rate observed in the secondary market of short term LECAPs.
Regarding the exchange rate regime, the foreign exchange market will continue to operate under a floating band regime. As from January 1, 2026, the band ceiling and band floor will evolve each month at the rate corresponding to the last monthly inflation data reported by INDEC (i.e. with a two-month lag, t-2). The floating exchange rate bands will continue to limit the risk of extreme and abrupt movements in the exchange rate.
On the other hand, the BCRA will continue to move forward with the process of normalizing the reserve requirement policy, recognizing its impact on monetary balance and financial intermediation. Any modification will be carried out in a manner consistent with price stability and credit recovery.
With the aim of strengthening the transparency and communication of the monetary scheme, the BCRA will resume the publication of its Quarterly Monetary Policy Report, starting in January with the one corresponding to December 2025. This publication will systematically present the BCRA’s analysis of the domestic and international economic situation, inflationary dynamics and its outlook, and will explain in greater detail the monetary policy decisions. Additionally, it will deepen the analysis of specific issues of technical complexity, deepening the quantitative analysis to facilitate a better understanding of the evolution of monetary policy and its relationship with the macroeconomic general equilibrium and the formation of economic expectations of the private sector.
As progress is made toward this new year’s objectives, within a framework of consolidating fiscal balance, the transition to a less regulated economy with greater predictability is expected to benefit from the implementation of a set of structural reforms. These include the potential for labor modernization, reduction of the tax compliance burden, and the shaping of stronger economic institutions. If approved early, these reforms could provide a significant boost to productivity in 2026. In this context, they are not only expected to contribute to sustained economic growth led by private investment and the creation of new jobs, but also to consolidate the process of domestic stability and external strengthening of the economy.
Strengthening confidence in the peso and flexibility in the use of the dollar will facilitate the development of full competition between currencies. In this way, financial intermediation with the private sector can be expected to continue to expand for both non-tradable and tradable sectors. Together with the progress of investment under RIGI, increased intermediation is expected to contribute to the capacity for expansion of economic activity.
In order to preserve financial stability conditions, during the coming year the BCRA will continue to calibrate its macro- and micro-prudential policy to adapt it to the particularities of the local context, in line with the best international practices in this area. To the extent that progress is observed in strengthening the balance in the foreign exchange market and a fluid access to external markets by the Treasury, the BCRA may consider it appropriate to continue easing the remaining foreign exchange restrictions on dividend stocks and payment of commercial debts prior to 2023.
During 2026, the BCRA will promote the consolidation of recent developments in payment instruments, while continuing to design and implement new electronic mechanisms that provide a secure environment for household and corporate payments, resulting in a better experience and lower transaction costs for consumers and corporate users of the system.
Within the framework of the 3.0 Transfers program, work will continue to reduce the incidence of fraud in instant payments, while consolidating the interoperability of available tools. Likewise, new modalities of Payments by Transfer (PCT) for online transactions will be analyzed in order to offer more secure and efficient solutions.
The implementation of interoperability of card payments in both pesos and U.S. dollars will continue to be monitored, promoting a homogeneous and transparent operation of currency competition throughout the local payment ecosystem.
The BCRA will also continue to promote the use of electronic instruments such as time deposits, checks and electronic credit invoices, as complementary alternatives to paper-based instruments. In particular, measures will be promoted to encourage a greater adoption of the ECHEQ to replace the physical check, and the development of the dollar ECHEQ market will be monitored, as well as the performance of immediate and deferred transfers involving demand accounts in that denomination.
Improvements will continue to be made to the MSME electronic credit invoice (FCEM), strengthening its role as a payment and financing tool for small and medium-size companies.
In addition, during 2026 progress will be made in the design and eventual implementation of an instrument for collecting installments on loans channeled to families, which can be used by both non-financial credit providers and financial institutions. Its design will take into account the experience obtained in recent years and similar products used in other countries, incorporating the necessary security measures to avoid the episodes of abuse observed in the past.
In line with the measures taken at the end of 2025, progress will continue to be made in the search for greater efficiency in the guarantees that financial institutions integrate in favor of the CEC-BV, simplifying processes and optimizing the use of resources.
At the same time, the information available to the BCRA on the means of payment in Argentina will be expanded, working on efficiency and security improvements in the reception and handling of the data used. This will make it possible to continue strengthening the control of the operation of the national payment system, promoting compliance with the applicable regulations.
Thus, throughout 2026, the BCRA will continue to support the implementation of the different public policies promoted by the National Government that are reflected in the national payment system, thus advancing in the development of a fully interoperable, digital and reliable payment ecosystem, capable of responding to the needs of users, merchants and financial institutions in an increasingly dynamic and efficient bimonetary environment.
Finally, in 2026 the BCRA will continue to advance in the implementation of the Open Finance System, through the formation of technical groups for the delineation of the necessary infrastructure and will seek to consolidate and deepen its educational programs, using the BCRA Campus to extend its reach to the different provinces and to new audiences.
