Summary
The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) once again exceeded the Monetary Base (WB) target in February. The WB’s average balance was $1.343 billion, $41 billion (3%) below the target of $1.384 billion. February’s goal included an increase of $33.5 billion from the purchase of US$560 million in January plus the average effect of the US$418 million acquired in February.
The average rate of LELIQ fell significantly during the first days of the month, accelerated by the inflow of capital from abroad. On February 8, the BCRA established that the holding of LELIQ by each financial institution would be limited by the deposits it collects or by its Computable Patrimonial Liability. This meant a limit to the positioning of the BCRA in liabilities for very short-term foreign capital flows, which led to the partial reversal of the reduction in the reference interest rate.
At the end of February, the average rate of LELIQ was 50.13%, 3.6 p.p. lower than its level at the end of January. The interest rates paid on time deposits partially replicated the trajectory of the BCRA rate, with a slight increase during the last days of the month. Thus, for example, the BADLAR of private banks stood at 37.1% at the end of the month, showing a monthly decrease of 7.4 p.p.
The average monthly balance of fixed-term deposits in pesos in the private sector grew 6.8% in nominal terms ($71 billion), and completed an increase of 77% in the last 12 months. In real and seasonally adjusted terms, they rose 1.7%, completing five months of uninterrupted growth.
In nominal terms and adjusted for seasonality, the balance of loans in pesos to the private sector increased 0.5%, after four consecutive months of negative variations. In the month there was a growth in more consumer-oriented loans and a fall in commercial loans. In real and seasonally adjusted terms, loans in pesos to the private sector decreased 2.6% compared to January.
Interest rates on commercial loans maintained a persistently declining trajectory. The one applied to single-signature documents averaged 52.3% and that corresponding to the discount of documents stood at 49.8%, with monthly falls of 12.9 p.p. and 7.9 p.p., respectively. Among the entities that grant personal loans, a greater dispersion of interest rates was observed and a concentration of the increase in the amounts granted in those entities that presented the greatest reductions in rates.
