Report on the Evolution of the Foreign Exchange Market and the Foreign Exchange Balance

Report on the evolution of purchases and sales of foreign currency in the foreign exchange market.

Executive summary

On April 11, the BCRA began phase 3 of the economic program. It implied a modification of the current exchange rate scheme towards a floating exchange rate system with moving bands. In addition, exchange restrictions on individuals were eliminated, and they can now buy foreign currency in the foreign exchange market and in the stock market without limits on amount or destination.
Similarly, the “dollar blend” was eliminated, which implied that 20% of the collections for exports of goods and services were settled in the stock market. The deadlines for the payment of foreign trade operations of goods and services were also made more flexible, and a large part of these can be paid from the registration of customs entry or the time of provision of the service, as appropriate (previously it was from 30 days). Additionally, the distribution of profits to foreign shareholders was enabled as of the financial years beginning in 2025.
In turn, non-resident investors were authorized to access the MLC, without prior approval, for the repatriation of new investments made and entered through the MLC, whether direct or portfolio. These investments require a minimum period of 6 months.
Complementing the aforementioned flexibilizations, and with the aim of accommodating the payments of imports and financial debts that may be operating through the financial exchange market (CCL), the restriction of previous 90 days contained in Communication “A” 7340 (the “cross-restriction”) was eliminated for the only time, to allow legal entities to operate in the MLC efficiently again. This restriction remains in force in case of operating in the financial exchange market after April 11.
The aforementioned phase is also supported by a new extended fund facilities (EPF) program agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an amount of USD 20,000 million. Of that amount, about USD 15,000 million will be freely available disbursements and accrued during 2025. Finally, on April 30, the BCRA approved series 4 of Bonds for the Reconstruction of a Free Argentina (BOPREAL) for a total issuance amount of up to 3,000 million dollars, which will be awarded in successive auctions.
This new issuance aims to channel in an orderly manner the stocks of dividends and retained earnings that have been generated until December 2024, commercial and financial debt services with related entities and commercial debts accumulated until December 12, 2023.
For more information on the implementation of this phase, see the notes published by the BCRA here and here, communications “A” 8226 and “A” 8230 and Decree 269/2025.
In April, the entities’ customers bought USD 2,138 million in the foreign exchange market, while the entities sold USD 1,362 million. The BCRA made net sales of USD 709 million (prior to 11.04) and made net payments through the Local Currency Payment System (SML) for USD 67 million.
The “Non-Financial Private Sector” was a net buyer of foreign currency for USD 1,856 million in the foreign exchange market. This result was largely explained by the formation of foreign assets of “Individuals”, which amounted to USD 2,247 million. They also recorded net expenditures for travel, tickets and other consumption made with cards with non-resident suppliers for USD 765 million. With respect to the “Travel, tickets and other card payments” account, it should not be associated only with travel expenses since, in the remittances made abroad to pay the balances with international card issuing companies, both the consumption made for trips abroad and the non-face-to-face purchases of goods and services from foreign suppliers are included.
It should also be noted that around 60% of these card purchases are subsequently paid directly by customers with funds in foreign currency, which reduces the deficit impact of these purchases on the foreign exchange market and international reserves.
The “Oilseeds and Cereals” sector was the main sector offering foreign currency, registering net revenues of USD 2,280 million, largely explained by its result under the heading “Goods”. On the other hand, “Real Sector excluding Oilseeds and Cereals” recorded net purchases of USD 1,196 million, mainly explained by the net outflows of the items “Goods” and “Other services and other currents” for USD 967 million and USD 431 million, respectively, which were partially offset by net income of USD 158 million for the result of the heading “Debt, FDI, portfolio and other operations”.
In what was the exchange balance of April, the operations of the current account of the exchange balance registered a deficit of USD 459 million in April, explained by net outflows in the “Services” and “Primary income” accounts of USD 1,161 million and USD 528 million, partially offset by the net income of the “Goods” and “Secondary income” accounts of USD 1,214 million and USD 16 million. respectively. In turn, the foreign exchange financial account was in surplus of USD 14,003 million in April. This result was mainly explained by the IMF’s disbursement to the National Treasury registered in the account of the “National Government and BCRA” for the equivalent of USD 12,396 million.
The BCRA’s international reserves increased by USD 13,942 million in April, ending the month at a level of USD 38,928 million. This result was mainly explained by the IMF’s disbursement to the National Treasury of the equivalent of USD 12,396 million, by the increase in the foreign currency holdings of the entities in the BCRA by USD 2,286 million, by the net income of capital and interest on loans from international organizations (excluding the IMF) for USD 1,163 million and by the increase in the price in US dollars of the assets that make up the reserves of USD 391 million.
The aforementioned movements were partially offset by the settlements of net sales of the BCRA in the foreign exchange market for USD 919 million, including the net payments made by the BCRA through the Local Currency Payment System (SML), for the net cancellation of principal of securities for USD 859 million, for net payments of interest on securities for USD 172 million and for net payments to the IMF for charges of USD 71 millions.