For his part, the MEP (via AL30) fell 0.2% (51 cents) to the $203,60, which brought the spread with the wholesaler to 95.4%.
The negotiations with the IMF concentrate the attention of the market, taking into account that in the first quarter maturities with the agency are close to US$4,000 million, an amount higher than the net reserves of the BCRA, which are those that do not have a counterparty liability ( excludes Swaps, for example).
“The lack of political progress with the opposition accentuates the uncertainty regarding the support and the viability of closing an agreement with the agency before March 22 (when US$2,879 million expires), hence different scenarios are beginning to be evaluated. “, said Gustavo Ber, an economist at the Ber study.
At the moment the negotiations with the Fund are blocked by differences regarding the path and speed of reducing the fiscal deficit.
In this context, the Argentine foreign minister, santiago cafiero, met with the secretary of the United States Department of State, Antony Blinken, to seek political support from the government of Joe Biden.
During the bilateral meeting, the American highlighted the country’s macroeconomic reactivation indexes and affirmed that from North America they “very strongly support a vibrant Argentine economy.”
Earlier, the Minister of Economy Martin Guzman He said in an interview with the AFP agency that Argentina wants to fulfill its commitments, but needs time. “We need that for that time they do not charge us a conditionality such that it stops the recovery and inhibits Argentina’s development capacity in the medium and long term,” he said.
“If the IMF pushes Argentina into a destabilizing situation, it will have less legitimacy,” the official assured on this day.
On Monday it was known that the public debt climbed more than 8% in 2021, reaching an equivalent of more than US $ 360,000 million. However, it fell in terms of GDP, due to the recovery of the Argentine economy and the appreciation of the real exchange rate.
Although 70% of the debt as of December 31 corresponded to debt in dollars, it is worth noting that during the last year liabilities in foreign currency fell 0.4%, while those denominated in pesos grew 36.5%.
For 2022, debt maturities are estimated for the equivalent of US$93,017 million. Most of the total maturities correspond to government bonds in national currency, for the equivalent of US$47,755 million. However, all eyes are focused on the maturities of almost $19 billion with the IMF.
In the wholesale segment, the dollar rose seven cents to $104.17. In the first two days of this week, the exchange rate advanced 33 cents, once morest a rise of 28 cents in the same period of the previous week.
With a slight recovery in the volume traded, following Monday’s holiday in the US, the US currency operated with somewhat more sustained demand.
After hitting an intraday high of $104.20, and due to the insufficiency of foreign currency income from exports, the BCRA was forced to intervene to supply the demand. In this way, following 12 consecutive rounds without sales, the entity led by Miguel Ángel Pesce had to part with regarding $50 million.
The activity of the Central added to a tepid recovery of the “genuine” supply in the last half hour of operations diluted the rise in prices.
For its part, the savings dollar or solidarity dollar -which includes 30% of the COUNTRY tax, and 35% on account of the Income Tax- advanced 30 cents to $180.91.
The blue dollar marked a new historical nominal maximum this Tuesday, January 18, 2022, climbing for the first time to $211, according to a survey carried out by Ámbito in the Foreign Exchange Black Market.
The parallel dollar rebounded $2, with which the gap with the wholesale exchange rate, which is regulated by the Central Bank (BCRA), reached 102.6%, the maximum so far in 2022.
