Informe de Evolución del Mercado de Cambios y Balance Cambiario

This report analyzes the evolution of purchases and sales of foreign currency in the foreign exchange market, corresponding to July.

Main aspects

In July, the Central Bank made net purchases through the foreign exchange market for USD 714 million, which allowed the BCRA’s international reserves to increase in the month by USD 145 million. In this way, the BCRA accumulated purchases for about USD 7,200 million in the foreign exchange market in the first 7 months of the year, a record for that period since 2012.

The domestic and global economy continues to undergo a gradual recovery from the health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted both the level of global and local activity, trade flows and capital movements. In recent months, the BCRA has perfected foreign exchange regulations in order to promote a more efficient allocation of foreign currency. In this context, the clients of the entities and they sold USD 637 million and USD 77 million net in the foreign exchange market, respectively, which were purchased by the BCRA. Likewise, the National Treasury made direct purchases from the BCRA for USD 841 million.

The real sector was a net seller of foreign currency for USD 1,018 million. Within this group, the main sector in terms of net sales in the foreign exchange market, “Oilseeds and Cereals”, recorded net revenues of USD 3,315 million. Against a backdrop of high international prices for agricultural commodities, a year-on-year increase of 68 per cent was observed. Revenues from collections of exports of goods in the sector were in line with customs flows from FOB exports in July, which would imply that there was no variation in the level of commercial debt in the sector in the month.

The “Real Sector excluding Oilseeds and Cereals”, on the other hand, was a net buyer in the foreign exchange market with a total of USD 2,297 million. The purchases were mainly intended to make payments for imports of goods and services, and to make interest payments.

“Individuals” bought USD 229 million net, basically for card spending with non-resident suppliers (USD 124 million, showing a decrease of 7% compared to the previous month) and for hoarding (USD 125 million in banknotes, with an increase of 65% compared to the previous month and a decrease of 83% year-on-year).

The “Institutional Investors and Others” sector, both resident and non-resident, made net purchases in the month for USD 17 million.

The foreign exchange current account, which includes net flows from net exports of goods and services and primary and secondary income, registered a surplus of USD 656 million. This result was mainly explained by the positive net result for “Goods” for USD 1,478 million, partially offset by net purchases for “Primary income” and “Services” for USD 572 and USD 270 million, respectively.

The foreign exchange financial account of the “Non-Financial Private Sector” had a deficit of USD 288 million in the month, highlighting the net cancellations of financial debt for USD 279 million.

The operations of the foreign exchange financial account of the “Financial Sector” resulted in a surplus of USD 397 million, basically explained by the decrease in the liquid foreign assets of the entities that make up the General Exchange Position (PGC).

On the other hand, the operations of the foreign exchange financial account of the “General Government and BCRA” resulted in a deficit of USD 853 million, a result mainly attributed to the cancellation of financial debt with International Organizations and other bilateral organizations.