In September, the exchange balance registered a surplus of US$ 509 million in the current exchange account. This balance was not sufficient to finance the deficit of US$ 762 million in the transactions of the foreign exchange capital and financial account, so the net use of the BCRA’s international reserves for US$ 254 million was resorted to (without taking into account the gain of reserves due to variations in the exchange rates and quotations of securities). These results basically reflected the merchandise surplus of US$ 749 million, the net formation of foreign assets of the non-financial private sector of US$ 585 million, and the net cancellation of obligations (principal and interest) with the International Monetary Fund of US$ 395 million.
In the first nine months of the year, the strong surplus of transfers for goods (US$ 9,976 million) basically made it possible to finance net capital outflows of US$ 3,877 million, net payments of rents of US$ 3,032 million, and the accumulation of international reserves of the Central Bank of US$ 2,972 million. In relation to net payments to international organizations, net outflows of around US$ 1,630 million were recorded, an amount that is explained by almost US$ 1,460 million in interest and just over US$ 170 million for net capital cancellations.
After 14 consecutive months of surplus in the Single and Free Exchange Market, in September there was a slight deficit of US$ 21 million as a result of lower external financing and greater formation of foreign assets by the non-financial private sector, by channeling part of the funds released from the corralón to foreign assets. On the contrary, the financial sector decreased its holdings of foreign assets, again marking a change in behavior between both sectors when peaks in net demand for the formation of private assets are recorded.
