The unofficial exchange rate (commonly referred to as “blue”) of the Argentine peso against the US dollar Friday hit an all-time high, reaching a US $ 1 = AR $ 195 parity thus matching an all-time-high of exactly one year ago (Oct.23, 2020), it was reported.
Argentina Tuesday made a payment to the Paris Club which resulted in the country's reserves falling to the US $ 42,837 million, it was reported.
Rising inflation plus bad loans and government regulations anticipate a tough 2021 according to the CEO of Argentina's biggest private bank by market capitalization. “If inflation is high, there is a risk that bank results will fall to very low or negative levels in real terms,” Fabian Kon said in an interview in Buenos Aires.
S&P Global Ratings raised its debt grade for Argentina on Tuesday, acknowledging the agency made a mistake when it changed the rating in late December for the crisis hit country.
Argentina's new government announced the issuance of US$ 1.326 billion of dollar-denominated Treasury Bills, to be directly subscribed by the central bank, according to a decree in the Official Gazette on Thursday.
Argentine president Alberto Fernandez called for “social responsibility” from business people demanding they don't increase prices above reasonable levels, since “fighting inflation is a battle that involves all of us”.
Argentine central bank international reserves stand at US$ 46.885 million following on Monday's rescue of different maturing bonds and support in the local market to help stabilize the price of the US dollar. This demanded some US$ 600 million.
According to estimates among analysts, the Argentine Peso's production will be around $ 300,000 million for the remainder of the year, estimating inflation for 2020 even higher than this year. 80% of that issuance corresponds to the last month of the year, breaking the objective that the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) of “zero-emission” had set and jeopardized the exchange control as it works since August.
Argentina's central bank this week announced further currency controls in an effort to tame speculation and stem a spiraling debt crisis in Latin America's third-largest economy.
Argentine gross public debt climbed 3% at the end of the second quarter of the year and has reached US$ 337.367 million compared to US$ 327.166 million in the same period last year, according to the Financial Secretariat.