Main aspects
In October 2016, the operations arranged by the entities authorized to operate in foreign exchange with their customers in the Single and Free Exchange Market (MULC) resulted in a surplus of US$ 136 million, showing a reversal in the net outflow observed in the same month of the previous year of about US$ 2,900 million (the deficit in October 2015 was US$ 2,758 million) and about US$ 450 million when compared to the negative result of US$ 311 million in September.
The supply of customers was mainly explained by net settlements of financial loans for about US$ 1,400 million, investments by non-residents for about US$ 450 million and goods for US$ 375 million. These sources exceeded the net demand for freely available foreign assets of the non-financial private sector, which totaled US$ 1,007 million, and net expenditures for services and primary and secondary income, which were around US$ 1,060 million.
The operations of the current account of the exchange balance of October resulted in net outflows of funds of US$ 1,424 million, showing a year-on-year reduction of the deficit of 33%.
Collections of exports of goods totaled US$ 4,447 million (year-on-year increase of 7% due to the reversal of the financial behavior of oilseeds and cereals) and payments for imports of goods were around US$ 4,100 million (year-on-year fall of 12%).
The capital and financial account of the exchange balance registered a surplus of US$ 9,039 million, basically due to the net income of the public sector and BCRA of US$ 7,773 million. The National Treasury had income from securities placements of about US$ 9,770 million, while the BCRA decided not to renew the financing line it maintained with the BIS, canceling a liability of US$ 2,500 million.
The BCRA made net purchases of foreign currency in the MULC for US$ 11 million for certain excesses in the PGC of entities, in addition to the net purchases directly from the National Treasury for US$ 2,000 million that were deposited in the BCRA.
It was the entities that absorbed almost all of the surplus with customers in October. In addition, the group of entities showed an increase in deposits in foreign currency of customers, both in the public and private sectors, in this case for about US$ 3,200 million, mainly explained by the deposits made within the framework of the Fiscal Sincerity Regime for about US$ 2,800 million.
As a result, the BCRA’s gross international reserves increased by US$ 7,309 million in October, the highest monthly increase since the beginning of the MULC, ending the month with a stock of US$ 37,210 million.
