The BCRA started the week with purchases for 33 million dollars on the foreign exchange market

In a session of the wholesale market with a traded amount of $335.7 million on the spot segment, the Central Bank ended its intervention on Monday with purchases for 33 million of dollars. “This is the highest purchase amount since January 13,” he said. Gustave Quintanaoperator of PR Exchange Brokers.

“During the conference, the entry of private funds for investment in productive projects was observed. The purchase of foreign currency is only one of the factors affecting the level of the BCRA’s international reserves and the most important as a sign of accumulation and strengthening of monetary and exchange rate policy,” he said. he explained to GlobeLiveMedia an official source.

February net sales in the hands of the monetary entity reached $897 million. The negative balance extends to $1,089 million from the start of 2023.

The ace Reservations Gross international sales fell last week by $325 million and ended in 39,003 million of dollars.

The government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are examining the latest figures to define the new objectives that the financial program will have with the organization. Quarterly and annual reserve accumulation targets will be relaxed given the difficulties the executive would have in meeting those that closed at the end of March 2023. The program already has mechanisms of this type, but they will seek to extend them to coping with the impact of the drought and the war in Ukraine on public accounts.

Economy Minister Sergio Massa sent a team to Washington to hold the latest round of negotiations with the staff of the Fund, with the intention of defining the recalculation of the BCRA reserve objectives.

“Already with the political endorsement of IMF management, the organization’s technical team underpins the final scope of this central modification in the development of the Extended Facilities program. The deviation from the target is said to be $4,622 million in March of this year. Argentina could have a to renouncer by the IMF. January’s fiscal deficit target would have been missed,” analysts at Research for Traders said.

The formalization will take the form of the traditional statement that the IMF’s technical team issues after the closing of the review for the last quarter of 2022 and before sending its final report to the Board of Directors for consideration, which would allow, after its approval, a disbursement of $5,400 million.

In the meantime, Minister Massa met with the managing director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, on the sidelines of the G20 meetings in Bangalore, India. Talks to change the BCRA’s net reserve targets for this year are preemptive as the country has met its net reserve targets by the end of December 2022, another source added to Reuters.

Argentina, the world’s largest exporter of soybean oil and meal, is also facing rising energy and fertilizer import costs due to the war in Ukraine, putting pressure on reserves in essential dollars.

These talks come shortly after the country decided in January to launch an external debt buyback of up to $1 billion. Earlier this month, an IMF official Nigel Chalksaid Argentina should not undermine targets for replenishing its “meager” foreign exchange reserves.

Net reserves now stand at some $4.4 billion, according to calculations by Buenos Aires-based brokerage firm Portfolio Personal Inversiones. According to the latest review, Argentina has set a target to increase net reserves by $5.5 billion by the end of March and by $9.8 billion by the end of the year. .

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