Summary
In March, the BCRA’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to extend the 0% growth target of the monetary base (WB) until December. Therefore, it set the WB’s monthly average target at the level it reached
in February: $1.343 billion (net of the expansion due to foreign exchange purchases and the seasonal increase in December). The monthly average of the Monetary Base (WB) in March was $1.314 billion, which implied an
over-compliance of $29 billion (2%) with respect to the new target.
In the month, the working capital held by the public remained in nominal terms compared to February and in seasonally adjusted terms grew 2.3% in a month in which the income of retirees and recipients of social allowances
, groups that make more intensive use of cash, were adjusted. Meanwhile, the current accounts of the banks in the BCRA, the main channel of transmission of monetary policy in the current scheme
, was the component that explained the monthly decrease of the WB.
As a counterpart to the monetary restriction, the benchmark interest rate reacted upwards. During March, the monetary policy interest rate increased 18 p.p. and stood at 68.2% at the end of the month. The increase in
the interest rate of the LELIQ was partially passed on to those received by depositors. In the segment of time deposits of larger amounts, the TM20 rate of private banks ended the month at 48.9%, 10.6 p.p.
above the value it presented at the end of February.
Time deposits in pesos in the private sector increased 1.5% compared to February and accumulated a growth of 72% in the last 12 months. The 53% monthly growth was made up of placements denominated in UVA.
Loans in pesos to the private sector increased for the second consecutive month (0.5%) when comparing seasonally adjusted nominal balances. Among the lines that drove the increase is the granting of loans to SMEs with preferential interest rates, which led to a 0.7% increase in nominal and seasonally adjusted financing through documents.
In terms of interest rates, the greatest impact of this line was on financing in the form of document discounts, whose average rate stood at 46.3%, 3.6 p.p. below that of February. On
the other hand, the rate of single-signature documents followed a trajectory more similar to that of the rest of the short-term rates, with a decrease until mid-February and an increase thereafter. March averaged
56.3%, showing a monthly increase of 4.1 p.p.
