Summary
In November, the BCRA again met its monetary base target. The average monthly balance of the monetary base stood at $1.256 billion in November, 1.1% ($14.5 billion) below that of last September.
The BCRA continued with the process of dismantling the LEBAC stock. Most of the funds released were in the hands of the non-financial sector, which used them mainly to increase time deposits. In turn, the financial institutions directed the deposits collected and the resources they received from their own LEBAC holdings to increase their LELIQ balances. In short, the expansion associated with the decrease in the LEBAC balance was almost completely sterilized by the increase in the LELIQ stock.
Liquidity absorption through LELIQ continued to be carried out through daily tenders. Over the course of the month, the average interest rate resulting from these placements maintained a downward trend and at the end of November stood at 60.75%, 7.3 p.p. below the value recorded at the end of October.
Interest rates paid on time deposits in pesos averaged higher values than in October. In particular, the TM20 of private banks averaged 54.9% in November, 1.1 p.p. above October. At the end of November, the rates offered for time deposits began to reflect the fall in the monetary policy reference rate (LELIQ).
Under these conditions and in a period in which the demand for foreign currency by individuals and companies remained at low levels, the average monthly balance of time deposits in pesos of the private sector grew 10.3% ($89.1 billion) in November, completing an increase of 21.9% ($171.8 billion) in the last two months.
In real and seasonally adjusted terms, loans in pesos to the private sector decreased 4.6% compared to the previous month, with a fall in all lines of financing. However, in real terms, in November the amount of loans granted to companies, both to SMEs and to the largest ones, stopped falling.
