The Bookings of the central bank (BCRA) US$456 million grew in March and closed the month at US$27,146 million. Since the beginning of the administration of Javier Mileithe organization’s coffers grew by US$5,937 million, despite the fact that it purchased more than US$11,300 million.

When analyzing only the data from March, it is seen that Foreign currency purchases totaled US$2,884 millionbut the monetary entity He was only able to retain 16% of the dollars he boughtdue to payments to international organizations and other commitments abroad – for around US$1,000 million – that limited the growth of the BCRA’s coffers.

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In relation to the cancellation of debt with International organizations, PPI He highlighted that according to official data as of the third quarter of 2023 (latest available), Argentina had to face payments with international organizations for around US$290 million between March 15 and April 6, among which are the IDB, the Paris Club, the CAF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Among the rest of the dollar transfers that affected the reserves, a report highlighted the impact that the payment of the guarantee had to continue appealing the adverse ruling by the PBI Coupon case in London. “The deadline for its constitution is April 5, so part of the drop in reserves could be explained by this. So the things, the net reserves They cut from an estimated -US$5,129 million to -US$5,745 million, climbing US$5,144 million since Milei took office,» he indicated. PPI.

Less purchases from the Central Bank

The BCRA purchaseswhile, were not so bulky in the last two business days prior to the Easter holidays. Although on Monday it had managed to acquire US$155 million, on Tuesday purchases dropped to US$77 million and on Wednesday they were only US$29 million, the lowest of the month.

From the second round of the short week, importers were able to begin accessing the third installment of 25% for the payment of purchases abroad (those who placed their orders on or after December 26). However, analysts PPI They considered the deceleration In official purchases it does not have to do with greater demand, but with a lower supply on the part of exporters.

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“Importers can begin to require access to the official market for the third quota of 25%, but That does not imply that they are going to buy the currencies immediatelysince they could choose to do carry with the pesos in the expectation that the crawling peg remains at 2% monthly,” they explained.

Along these lines, March ratified the pace of increase in the exchange rate at around 2% monthly, as the Government had anticipated. The month closed with a rise of 1.88% to $858 in the wholesale segment and $876 in the retail segment, which took the card dollar to exceed $1,400. Since the year started, the official exchange rate has risen 6%.