Main aspects
In October, the National Treasury sold US$ 2,674 million that were purchased directly by the BCRA. For their part, banks and other entities together with other public sector agencies sold US$ 648 million and US$ 327 million, respectively, which were purchased by private sector clients through the Single and Free Exchange Market (MULC).
The volume traded in the MULC totaled US$ 44,206 million, exceeding US$ 2,000 million per day on average and registering an increase of 55% compared to the same month of the previous year.
The operations of the current account of the foreign exchange balance were in deficit by US$ 2,258 million, as a result, basically, of the net outflows from the “Primary income” and “Services” accounts of US$ 1,173 million and US$ 983 million, respectively. In the same vein, operations for “Goods” registered a net outflow of US$ 132 million, as a result of export collections of US$ 4,774 million (year-on-year increase of 7%) and import payments of US$ 4,906 million (year-on-year increase of 20%).
The foreign exchange capital and financial account of the public sector and BCRA resulted in a surplus of US$ 2,664 million, explained by the foreign currency income of the National Treasury for the expansion of the Bonar 2024 by US$ 2,150 million (destined for a pass operation), by the placements of Treasury Bills denominated in dollars for US$ 1,470 million and by the income from loans with international organizations for US$ 300 million. These movements were partially offset by LETES payments of US$ 1,470 million.
The capital and financial account of the “Non-Financial Private Sector” (NFPS) registered net outflows of US$ 565 million, increasing outflows by US$ 340 million compared to the same month in 2016, mainly due to the increase in outflows due to the formation of foreign assets, followed by lower income from financial loans and credit lines. These movements were partly offset by higher revenues from securities trading and non-resident portfolio investments.
The operations of the capital and financial account of the “Financial Sector” resulted in net income of US$ 321 million, explained by a fall in the liquid foreign assets of the entities that make up the General Exchange Position (PGC) by US$ 305 million and by net income from financial loans of US$ 252 million, which were partly offset by the use of funds for the primary subscription of securities for US$ 236 million.
With these movements, the BCRA’s international reserves increased by US$ 1,573 million during October, closing the month with a stock of US$ 51,810 million.
