MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: “Blue” dollar falls back after illegal exchange parlors raided

Massa insisted he would push for the prosecution of all those carrying out illegal exchange operations

The “blue” (a euphemism for “black market”) dollar pierced the AR$ 1,000 threshold downward and closed Thursday at AR$ 980 after law enforcement raids at unofficial exchange parlors led to at least six people arrested ahead of the 4-day weekend, it was reported in Buenos Aires.

Thus, the gap with the official quotation stood at 178.5%, after being close to 200% on Tuesday, surpassing the levels reached in July 2022, after the departure of Martín Guzmán from the Ministry of Economy. So far in 2023, the blue dollar went up AR$ 634 after closing 2022 at AR$ 346. In 2022, it advanced AR$ 138 (+66.4%) after closing 2021 at AR$ 208. The parallel bill reached AR$ 1,050 intraday Tuesday.

Customs authorities announced Thursday that a Croatian national allegedly owning “Nimbus,” the biggest “cueva” (cave, also slang for black market exchange parlor) had been detained after evidence of illicit operations with foreign currency was seized.

The official dollar stood at AR$350.10, which the Central Bank (BCRA) seeks to keep almost unchanged after the Oct. presidential elections, while the quotation for transactions abroad through credit cards featuring several taxes and surcharges stood at AR$ 734.91.

In this scenario, the BCRA also ordered an increase in the yearly interest rate from 118% to 133%.

Meanwhile, Economy Minister and presidential candidate Sergio Massa insisted he would push for the prosecution of all those carrying out illegal exchange operations.