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 September.

Main aspects

In September 2017, the National Treasury sold US$ 3,600 million that were purchased directly by the BCRA. For their part, banks and other entities together with other public sector agencies sold US$ 296 million and US$ 135 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$ 41,706 million, a total that represented an increase of 53% compared to the same month of 2016, mainly explained by the operations arranged between the entities and their customers.

The operations of the current account of the foreign exchange balance were in deficit by US$ 1,595 million, basically as a result of the net outflows from the “Services” and “Primary income” accounts of US$ 913 million and US$ 616 million, respectively. Operations for transfers of goods from the foreign exchange balance registered a net outflow of US$ 97 million, as a result of export collections of US$ 4,781 million (year-on-year increase of 2%) and import payments of US$ 4,878 million (year-on-year increase of 11%).

The foreign exchange capital and financial account of the public sector and BCRA resulted in a surplus of US$ 2,331 million, explained by the foreign currency income of the National Treasury for the expansion of the Bonar 2024 by US$ 1,800 million (destined for a pass operation with foreign entities), by the placements of Treasury Bills denominated in dollars for US$ 3,229 million and by the income from financial loans with international organizations for US$ 607 million. These movements were partly offset by the outflow of funds destined for the payment of LETES for US$ 3,242 million.

The capital and financial account of the “Non-Financial Private Sector” (NFPS) registered net outflows of US$ 18 million, reducing outflows by US$ 395 million compared to the same month in 2016. The main factors explaining this variation were the increase in investment income by non-residents destined for pesos and income from securities trading, partially offset by the increase in net purchases of foreign assets by residents, and by lower income from financial loans and debt securities.

The operations of the capital and financial account of the “Financial Sector” resulted in net outflows of US$ 203 million, explained by the use of funds for the primary subscription of securities for US$ 316 million, partly offset by net income from financial loans of US$ 91 million and a fall in the liquid foreign assets of the entities that make up the General Exchange Position (PGC) of US$ 21 million.

With these movements, the BCRA’s international reserves increased by US$ 1,360 million during September, closing the month with a stock of US$ 50,237 million.