The price of the dollar in the informal market of Argentina shoots up

Buenos Aires, Apr 26 (EFE).- The price of the US dollar in the informal market in Argentina soared this Tuesday, closing at 212.50 pesos per unit, its highest value in the last two months.

The price of the so-called “blue dollar” (informal) advanced 7 pesos this Tuesday compared to last Monday’s close, a magnitude of jump that had not occurred since November 2020.

The price of the US currency in the informal market, which reached a historical maximum of 223.50 pesos per unit last January, accumulates six consecutive days on the rise.

This Tuesday’s rise in the “blue dollar” coincided with the rise in prices in the so-called financial dollars (CCL and MEP, a hedging option for more sophisticated investors), between 1.5% and 2.2% .

Local analysts link the renewed avidity for dollars in Argentina to the uncertainty aroused by certain factors in the domestic economy, such as rising inflation, and the eventual difficulties that the country could have to meet the goals committed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). .

One of these goals refers to the accumulation of monetary reserves by the Central Bank, which this Tuesday bought some 15 million dollars, validating a rise in the official price of the wholesale dollar of 17 cents, up to a maximum of 114.85 pesos. per unit for sale.

In tune, the price of the dollar for sale to the public in the state-owned Banco Nación (where operations are limited by a monthly quota and, in addition, taxed with the payment of a 30% rate) advanced 25 cents, to 119.75 pesos for sale.

As the economist Gustavo Ber observed on Tuesday, beyond the fact that the Central Bank “has been buying foreign currency,” the attention of operators is focused on the volume of acquisitions to “evaluate the chances of meeting the defined reserve accumulation goals “with the IMF.

The expert pointed out that the “upward rearrangement” of financial dollars also “comes fueled by external condiments”, global caution and the depreciation of currencies in Latin America, and internal ones, such as “concerns about inflation, a possible greater monetary issue and political tensions, which incline operators to greater coverage.”