The Central Bank sold USD 180 million to contain the dollar

The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) intervened again on Tuesday in the market to support the dollar. During the day of today the agency sold USD 180 million. The sharp drop in foreign exchange earnings due to the end of the harvest and the great demand to settle energy imports put pressure on Argentina’s reserves. The blue dollar today reached $267 and then dropped to $252. In this way, the exchange rate gap reaches 91% against the official dollar, which trades at $ 131.75 on the screens of Banco Nación. On the other hand, the Cash with Settlement fell to $ 275.17 while the MEP is trading at $ 262.79.The BCRA ended the second day of the week with sales of USD 180 million and in the previous day had shed 98 million dollars. However, by June, it had accumulated net purchases of $950 million. Therefore, former Economy Minister Martín Guzmán closed his last month of management by accumulating reserves, as foreseen in the agreement with the IMF. After the U.S. holiday for July 4, on Tuesday the shares of Argentine companies operating on Wall Street collapsed up to 10.2% and the country risk climbed to 2574 basis points. However, shares in the local market rose 4%.

Original source in Spanish