The record net inflows for a first quarter of foreign exchange transfers for goods and since the entry into force of the Single and Free Exchange Market (MULC) for direct investments, together with the maximum net income of the private sector from medium and long-term financial loans, and the slowdown in the demand for foreign assets from residents, were reflected in a rapid recovery of the surplus of foreign exchange operations with customers.
As a result, these operations resulted in a surplus of US$ 2,139 million in the first quarter of 2008. This amount rises to US$ 3,650 million, if purchases in the MULC of the National Treasury are excluded. This last balance more than doubled the result of the previous quarter, although it was somewhat lower than that of the same quarter of the previous year (US$ 3,987 million).
The National Treasury met its obligations in foreign currency basically with access to the foreign exchange market, demanding foreign currency for US$ 1,509 million, in the absence of new placements of public securities in foreign currency.
The net purchases by the BCRA in the foreign exchange market for almost US$ 2,600 million, together with the return on the BCRA’s investments both for interest and for improvements in the price and/or valuation in the currency of account, constituted the main sources of the quarterly increase of US$ 4,287 million in the BCRA’s international reserves. With this increase, they reached an all-time high at the end of March, totaling US$ 50,464 million.
The current account of the exchange balance registered a record surplus for the first quarter of the year of about US$ 3,600 million, with a significant increase of around US$ 1,000 million (41%) compared to the result of the same quarter of the previous year. Collections of exports of goods totaled US$ 14,570 million (30% year-on-year increase); while payments for imports of goods reached US$ 10,529 million (33% year-on-year growth).
The US$551 million deficit in the non-financial private sector’s capital and financial exchange operations implied a lower net outflow of funds by almost US$1.9 billion compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. This improvement basically reflected lower net demand for foreign assets and record net inflows from nonresident direct investments and financial loans.
