Annabella quiroga
08/17/2020 - 13:15
- Clarín.com
- Economy
- Economy
"Many people who receive the IFE ( Family Emergency Income ) convert it into dollars, not to speculate but so that the income does not deteriorate," President Alberto Fernández slid into radio statements on Saturday, at times when inside and outside The government debated whether to continue maintaining the purchase quota of up to US $ 200 per person per month.
For the president, small savers who buy at US $ 200 a month "are a problem", in a context in which the Central Bank is unable to rebuild reserves and must go out and sell to supply the growing market demand.
When speaking of the quota of US $ 200, Alberto pointed directly against the heads of the IFE. There are 9 million people who are collecting the third round of the $ 10,000 bonus these days. Since June, these people have been in the sights of the Central Bank, which came to analyze prohibiting them from accessing the monthly quota of US $ 200. The restriction would be in the same line as the requirements that apply to those who receive other benefits from the State, such as credits at a 0% rate for monotributistas.
Blue dollar quote
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Infographic: Clarín
Despite the analysis, the Central gave up on restricting IFE beneficiaries access to the official dollar. And the same happened with the idea of completely closing the tap and preventing the entire population from accessing the savings dollar. Minister Martín Guzmán asserted his criteria and the quota of US $ 200 remains in force.
The IFE pureed
The rise in the blue dollar in the last week gave new life to a strategy that had become popular at the beginning of the quarantine: "mash" in the informal exchange market to pocket more pesos. This allows the IFE's $ 10,000 bond to be stretched to convert it, at today's blue values, to $ 15,600.
The widening of the exchange gap adds incentives to the "mash" strategy: buy foreign currency in the official market at $ 100.7 (the official exchange rate plus the 30% PAIS tax) using the quota of US $ 200 and sell it on the blue at $ 129, the price of the buying tip. Thus, $ 20,140 is allocated to the first step and $ 25,800 is obtained in the second. A "profit" of $ 5,600.
For IFE beneficiaries, "mashing" requires several steps . With the $ 10,000 they can buy $ 99 at a price of $ 100.7 and sell it in the blue at $ 129 to transform it into $ 12,770. Of that amount, $ 10,170 is deposited to buy the other US $ 101 until the monthly quota is completed. With the sale of those US $ 101 in the blue, another $ 13,000 is obtained. In this way, the original $ 10,000 becomes $ 15,600.
IFE beneficiaries are in the sights of the Central Bank. Photo Luciano Thieberger.
In order to carry out this strategy, IFE beneficiaries must have a savings account in dollars , which would allow them to purchase foreign currency digitally and then withdraw them at the counter or through the ATMs that operate with these bills. green. But not all the 9 million holders of the IFE have this type of account. The other option is to buy the dollars over the counter, but in this case the quota is reduced to US $ 100 per month.
In the last two months, the bankarization of the bondholders increased: about 3 million free accounts were opened to collect the $ 10,000. But not all banks also enable savings banks in dollars.
Of course, the beneficiaries of the IFE are not the only ones who mash . The practice is also available to all people who have bank accounts in dollars or who go to bank windows to use their monthly quota. That is why the currency purchase operation increases month by month. In June, 3.3 million people had used the quota of US $ 200 and in July it is estimated that that number would have jumped to 4 million.
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