Monthly Monetary Report

Monthly report on the evolution of the monetary base, international reserves and foreign exchange market.

Summary

• In January 2013, the broadest monetary aggregate in pesos, M3, increased by 3.2%, which implied a year-on-year variation of 36.2% (1.2 p.p. lower than the increase in December). The monthly growth of private M3 (3.4%) was led by the behavior of term placements. Again, the increase in monetary aggregates was mainly driven by the increase in loans in pesos granted to the private sector.

• Fixed-term deposits in pesos in the private sector increased 5.7% in January, recovering their growth rate, once the period of greater demand for transactional money by households and companies characteristic of the end of the year has passed. January’s monthly increase was the highest in the last 12 months and one of the highest in recent years. The year-on-year rate of increase stood at 50.2%.

• The monthly increase in loans in pesos to the private sector reached 3.1% ($10,390 million) and was one of the highest in recent years for this period. Thus, the year-on-year rate of change continued to increase, registering an increase of 1.1 p.p. compared to the previous month, reaching 41.7%. The lines that made the greatest contribution to the growth of the month were financing instrumented with documents and those made through credit cards.

• As of December 2012, the total number of loans disbursed through the Productive Investment Line amounted to $16,763 million. Of the total disbursed, 47% corresponded to large companies and 53% to MSMEs. Once the granting of the loans that were agreed in tranches has been effective, the total will amount to $17,993 million, a figure that will exceed the goal established in the BCRA regulations by 20%.

• In January 2013, tender No. 20 was held within the framework of the Bicentennial Productive Financing Program. Of the $420 million that were auctioned on this occasion, $400 million were awarded. Since the beginning of the program, the resources awarded amounted to $6,185 million, of which $4,176 million were disbursed
.

• The liquidity ratio in pesos (the sum of cash in banks, the current account of the entities in the Central Bank, the net passes with such entity and the holding of LEBAC and NOBAC as a proportion of total deposits in pesos) stood at 33.8%, 0.3 p.p. below December; with a reduction in current accounts and cash in banks and an increase in passive passes for the Central Bank. Although financial institutions increased their holdings of LEBAC and NOBAC in absolute terms, their balance remained stable as a percentage of deposits in pesos.

• Among passive interest rates, the BADLAR of private banks – for deposits of $1 million and more with a term of 30-35 days – averaged 15.1%, falling 0.2 p.p. in the month. On the other hand, the average value of the interest rate paid by private banks for their fixed-term deposits up to $100,000 and up to 35 days remained at 13.2%.

• Interest rates on the different lines of financing to the private sector in January showed dissimilar movements compared to December 2012. The interest rate corresponding to current account advances averaged 21.5%, falling 0.2 p.p. in January, while those applied to the rest of the commercial lines showed slight increases, which in no case exceeded 0.5 p.p.. In some cases, as in the case of collateral loans, the monthly increase in interest rates was related to the lower participation of productive financing lines during the summer recess period, when commercial activity usually decreases. On the other hand, the monthly average interest rate charged for mortgage loans to families was 15.9%, decreasing 0.4 p.p. in January. On the other hand, the interest rate applied to personal loans averaged 35%, with a monthly increase of 0.7 p.p..