Executive summary
In the third month of the year, the broad monetary aggregate (private M3) remained stable in real terms and without seasonality, with a heterogeneous and limited behavior at the level of its components. On the one hand, traditional means of payment (transactional private M2) continued to show a contraction, while interest-bearing deposits expanded. With respect to the latter, both the growth in fixed-term deposits and interest-bearing demand placements were explained by the higher holdings of Money Market Mutual Funds (FCI MM).
For its part, the Monetary Base fell, on average, 0.2% in real terms and adjusted for seasonality, accumulating seven consecutive months of contraction. However, comparing the balance at the end of March with that of the end of February, it registered a slight increase ($0.3 trillion). The only factor of expansion was the purchase of foreign currency from the private sector (in March the monetary authority acquired USD1,671 million and has accumulated USD4,386 million in the first quarter of the year). This effect was partially offset by the contraction associated with tax operations.
Finally, credit in pesos to the private sector registered a contraction of 0.4% at constant prices and without seasonality, with falls in most lines of credit, with the exception of loans with real collateral and credit card financing. In the year-on-year comparison, credit accumulated a growth of around 14% and stood at 8.9% of GDP.
