Monthly Monetary Report

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

Summary

• In November, the broadest aggregate in pesos (M3) increased 2.6% and reached an average monthly balance of $692,780 million. Among its components, both fixed-term deposits and means of payment showed increases. In particular, fixed-term deposits in the private sector grew 3.2% in the month, with significant increases observed in both the wholesale segment (3.6%) and those of less than $1 million (2.7%). Thus, the year-on-year growth of fixed-term deposits in pesos in the private sector stood at 50.6%, which represents a historically high variation.

• Loans in pesos to the private sector continued to be the main factor in the expansion of the quantity of money. In November they grew 3.9% ($12,300 million), accelerating their monthly growth rate. The increase in November was one of the largest of the year and of those observed in the same month of previous years. This led to the year-on-year rate of change standing at 38.7%, 1.2 p.p. above that of October.

• In November, a new tender was held within the framework of the Bicentennial Productive Financing Program. On this occasion, $480 million were auctioned, of which $450 million were awarded. In this way, the total funds awarded since the beginning of the program amounts to $5,578 million. Meanwhile, the total funds disbursed reaches $3,746 million. For their part, within the framework of the “Credit Line for Productive Investment” (Communication A 5319), between July and November, financial institutions would have disbursed approximately $9,500 million, an amount equivalent to 64% of the loans to be placed.

• The segment’s liquidity ratio in local currency (calculated as the sum of cash in banks, the current account of financial institutions at the Central Bank, net passes with such entity, and the holding of LEBAC and NOBAC, in terms of deposits) decreased 0.3 p.p. compared to October, to 34.5%. This decline took place in a context in which loans to the private sector accelerated their growth rate.
• In November, short-term passive interest rates paid by private entities maintained an upward trend. In the wholesale segment, the BADLAR rate of private banks – interest rate on deposits of $1 million and more with a term of 30-35 days – averaged 15.3%, increasing 0.4 p.p. in the month. In the retail segment, the interest rate
paid by private banks for their fixed-term deposits (up to $100,000 and up to 35
days) registered a similar monthly increase, averaging 13%.
• Lending rates showed a disparate behavior. The interest rate on
current account advances stood at 21.6%, while that on signature documents
averaged 18.1% in November, with increases in the margin in both cases. For its part, the interest rate
on collateral loans decreased 0.8 p.p. and averaged 19.7% in the month, accumulating a decrease of 5.4 p.p. so far in 2012.
• Excluding issuances to finance infrastructure works, the placement
of financial trusts reached the highest value in recent years in November, totaling $1,500 million, 45% above the issuances registered in October. Among the trustors were mutuals, cooperatives and non-bank credit card issuers,
financial institutions and retail businesses.