MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: “Blue” Dollar hits new ceiling of AR$ 408

Traders and government officials foresee US$ 5 billion added to the BCRA reserves thanks to the agrodollar ending May 31.

The “blue” (a euphemism for “black market”) dollar closed rose by AR$ 8 and closed at AR$ 408 Monday, reaching a new all-time high, it was reported in Buenos Aires. It had closed at AR$ 400 on Friday. The Argentine Central Bank bought US$ 73 million to add to its dwindled coffers.

In this scenario, the dollar with the 30% surcharge -included in the PAIS tax-, averaged AR$290.41, and with the 35% advance payment on account of the Income Tax on the purchase of foreign currency, at AR$368.59, while the travel dollar (used for credit card transactions abroad) -which has a 45% tax- reached AR$ 390.93. With the extra 25% tax for purchases exceeding US$ 300, the so-called dollar Qatar (created when Argentines were traveling to the 2022 football World Cup), remained the highest of all quotations at AR$ 446.78.

The Central Bank made purchases this Monday for US$73 million and ended “in the green” for the fifth consecutive session. April's red is now reduced to some US$ 48 million of net sales. The positive balance comes after the launching last Monday of a new edition of the Export Increase Program (PIE) -also referred to as “agrodollar”- with a temporary differential exchange rate of AR$ 300 for the soybean complex and regional economies.

On the other hand, Argentina started a new stage of negotiations to reformulate the program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and to obtain more fresh funds from different organizations, which already guaranteed a floor of US$ 2 billion.

With the agrodollar, the Central Bank managed last week to cut a 23-day selling streak and returned to a positive balance. After a slow start due to difficulties in the operational implementation of the measure, in the last two days, the settlement of US$ 815 million was activated and accumulated a buying balance of US$ 297 million. These dynamics were due to the foreign currency that the soybean sector started to liquidate with the AR$ 300 dollar which will be in force until May 31. Traders and government officials foresee US$ 5 billion added to the BCRA reserves thanks to the measure.