Objectives and plans
According to Article 42 of the Organic Charter, “The bank must publish before the beginning of each annual fiscal year its objectives and plans regarding the development of monetary, financial, credit and exchange policies. If there are significant changes in its objectives and plans, the bank must disclose their causes and the measures taken accordingly.”
2025
During 2025, the BCRA will continue to focus on its fundamental mission of continuing to consolidate the reduction of inflation. Having closed the sources of primary expansion of fiscal money and interest paid by the BCRA and established a control over the evolution of monetary aggregates by the BCRA, as the demand for money continues to strengthen, the economy is expected to continue to emerge from the situation of excess liquidity in pesos. Likewise, progress will be made in continuing to adapt the regulations to enable commercial transactions to be carried out in any currency chosen by the parties in order to facilitate free competition between currencies.
With regard to the exchange rate, to the extent that inflation continues to decelerate, the slippage of the exchange rate can be adjusted and, eventually, move to a more flexible exchange rate scheme once inflation expectations are well anchored and the fiscal surplus fully fulfills its role as a fundamental anchor of the economy. The consolidation of the macroeconomic scheme will allow further affirmation of the reduction of country risk, which will allow the National Treasury to regain access to international debt markets to finance the rollover of capital maturities, if necessary and so decided.
Progress will continue in cleaning up the BCRA’s balance sheet, replenishing net international reserves. As certain conditions are met, progress can be made in eliminating the exchange and capital controls still in force and, after an orderly normalization process, in the definitive unification of the exchange market. A new program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or an agreement with private investors could allow a more prompt definitive solution to the inherited problem of the Central Bank’s stocks.
Looking ahead to next year, financial intermediation with the private sector is expected to continue to expand, in a context of lower levels of inflation and expansion of economic activity, hand in hand with the gradual maturation of the current investment incentive scheme (RIGI) and the gradual elimination of obstacles and distorting regulations. Going forward, there remains ample room for credit to increase its depth in the economy, bringing with it new increases in exposures to risks intrinsic to the activity and, eventually, in the levels of coverage of the sector. In this context, the BCRA will continue to orient its policies, regulation and supervision of all entities with the aim of promoting financial stability.
The BCRA will continue to keep the micro and macroprudential regulations updated to the reality of the Argentine financial system, including the local adaptation of the best practices at a global level, in particular those included in the recommendations established in the Basel IV Framework. The ultimate goal is to design a local regulatory scheme that takes into account international guidelines and local characteristics such as the business models of financial institutions or the materiality of risks.
The promotion of new payment mechanisms will continue, further refining existing ones in order to improve competition among market players, electronic payment options and their security, resulting in a better user experience. In this context, the necessary adjustments will be made to the different transfer modalities of the “Transferencias 3.0” program and other electronic payment instruments such as direct debits, immediate debit (DEBIN) and checks generated by electronic means (ECHEQ). Likewise, measures will continue to be deepened to achieve full interoperability at different levels of the ecosystem in both pesos and other currencies.
In addition, work will be carried out within the Interbank Commission for Payment Methods of the Argentine Republic (CIMPRA) for the gradual and phased implementation of payments in transport with QR codes. Initially, progress will be made in the possibility of paying with money in an account (VCT) and, in later stages, in payments with a card through that code. The objective is to build a standard and simple system for all actors in the system at the national level (wallets and means of transport) so that the VCT can be used without requiring bilateral integrations and/or adaptations, in all means of transport included in Decree 698/24 throughout the territory of the Argentine Republic.
Once the aforementioned definitions are implemented, users of interoperable digital wallets registered in the BCRA registry who wish to offer the payment service in transport initiated with QR codes may pay by displaying QR codes in their applications in all transport services in the country, regardless of who offers or reads the QR code, guaranteeing the interoperability required in the aforementioned decree.
In another order, regarding ECHEQ to optimize the service to customers, work will continue with financial institutions to offer the complete service (issuance, management and collection) through mobile banking.
The BCRA will maintain its support for the implementation of the different policies promoted by the National Government that impact the national payment system, as it has done during 2024 in relation to projects such as digital tips, the promotion of local payments in foreign currency, the creation of special asset regularization accounts and their associated operation, electronic transport payments and the prevention of gambling addiction.