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 March.

Main aspects

The BCRA made net sales in the foreign exchange market for US$ 2,040 million, which, added to the sales of the entities for US$ 1,020 million, and of the different public sector agencies for US$ 61 million, were acquired by private sector clients for about US$ 3,100 million. The National Treasury and the BCRA did not carry out exchange operations directly with each other during the month.

The total volume traded in the foreign exchange market totaled US$ 50,758 million (US$ 2,540 million on a daily average), registering an increase of 36% in year-on-year terms, explained by the increases in the volumes traded in all areas.

The operations of the current account of the exchange balance resulted in a deficit of US$ 1,689 million. This result was explained by the deficits in the “Services”, “Primary income” and “Goods” accounts of US$ 1,017 million, US$ 506 million and US$ 182 million, respectively. The result in “Goods” was the result of export collections of US$ 3,897 million (year-on-year decrease of 23%) and import payments of US$ 4,079 million (year-on-year decrease of 8%).

The capital and financial account of the “Non-Financial Private Sector” (NFPS) registered net outflows of US$ 2,644 million, basically due to the formation of foreign assets for US$ 2,464 million, which was broken down into net purchases of banknotes for US$ 1,868 million and net transfers of residents abroad for US$ 596 million. It is important to note that gross purchases of banknotes in foreign currency could have been influenced by a new structural demand generated by the increase in the granting of mortgage loans, which in March were around the equivalent of about US$ 700 million.

The operations of the capital and financial account of the “Financial Sector” resulted in a surplus of US$ 515 million, explained by the fall in the liquid foreign assets of the entities that make up the General Exchange Position (PGC) by US$ 768 million and by the net income of financial loans and debt securities of US$ 31 million. which were partially offset by the use of funds for the primary subscription of securities for US$ 287 million

The foreign exchange capital and financial account of the public sector and BCRA resulted in a surplus of US$ 2,089 million, largely explained by the foreign currency income of the National Treasury for a REPO made with an entity for US$ 1,000 million, for the issuance of BONAR 2020 and BONCER 2023 denominated in pesos for a total of US$ 813 million and for the net issuance of LETES for US$ 500 million. movements partially offset by the cancellation of financial loans with International Organizations for US$ 329 million.

With these movements, the BCRA’s international reserves increased by US$ 217 million during the month of March, closing with a stock at the end of the month of US$ 61,726 million.