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

In March, the Central Bank again made net purchases through the foreign exchange market, this time for USD 1,372 million. For its part, the BCRA’s international reserves increased by USD 75 million in the month, mainly affected by the movements of the foreign currency accounts of the entities in the BCRA, the net payments of principal and interest on debt of the National Government and by the fall in the prices of the different reserve assets in relation to the US dollar.

The world economy continues to go through a health and economic crisis in the face of the COVID19 pandemic, with impacts on both the level of global and local activity, trade flows and capital movements. In recent months, the BCRA has implemented regulatory modifications that affect the foreign exchange market in order to promote a more efficient allocation of foreign currency. In this context, the clients of the entities and they sold USD 1,164 million and USD 208 million net in the foreign exchange market, respectively, which were purchased by the BCRA. Likewise, the National Treasury made direct purchases from the BCRA for USD 365 million.

The real sector was a net seller of foreign currency for USD 1,510 million. Within this group, the main sector in terms of net sales in the foreign exchange market, “Oilseeds and Cereals”, recorded net revenues of USD 3,179 million. In a context of high international prices of agricultural commodities, this level was a record for the month of March and more than doubled the revenues recorded in the same period of 2020, in which the sector net canceled commercial external debt, a situation inverse to that observed during this year.

The “Real Sector excluding Oilseeds and Cereals”, on the other hand, was a net buyer in the foreign exchange market with a total of USD 1,669 million. The purchases were mainly intended to make payments for imports of goods and services, and to pay off financial debt.

“Individuals” bought USD 175 million net, basically for expenses made with cards for consumption with non-resident suppliers (about USD 108 million, showing a drop of 24% compared to the same month of the previous year, in the context of the continuity of the COVID-19 pandemic) and for hoarding (USD 59 million in banknotes, with a decrease of 36% compared to the previous month).

The “Institutional investors and others” sector, both resident and non-resident, made net purchases in the month for USD 96 million.

The foreign exchange current account, which includes net flows from net exports of goods and services and primary and secondary income, registered a surplus of USD 1,392 million. This result was mainly explained by the positive net result for “Goods” for USD 1,999 million, which also constituted a record for the month of March, partially offset by net purchases for “Primary income” and “Services”.

The foreign exchange financial account of the “Non-Financial Private Sector” had a deficit of USD 517 million in the month, highlighting the net cancellations of financial debt for USD 515 million.

The operations of the foreign exchange financial account of the “Financial Sector” resulted in a deficit of USD 362 million, basically explained by the increase in the liquid foreign assets of the entities that make up the General Exchange Position (PGC) by USD 361 million.

The operations of the foreign exchange financial account of the “General Government and BCRA” resulted in a deficit of USD 253 million, mainly explained by the net cancellation of financial debt.