Annabella quiroga
04/28/2021 12:20 PM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 04/28/2021 12:20 PM
The blue dollar continues to rise this Wednesday and is already at par with the savings dollar.
This Wednesday it started with a jump of two pesos, which takes it to
$ 163.
It is only three pesos cheaper than at the start of the year.
In a somersault driven by economic uncertainty, the blue dollar went in three weeks from being the cheapest on the market, when it was trading around $ 140, to becoming
one of the two most expensive
, along with the savings dollar, which with taxes and surcharges also trade at
$ 163.
In
s last twenty days, the blue dollar has already risen 24 pesos.
And it stretched the gap with the wholesale dollar to 75%.
The rally in the blue dollar comes hand in hand with the
rise in Covid infections,
the jump in inflation, low rates and the persistent increase in financial dollars in a market with
less supply and more demand.
The jump in the blue drags
the exchange rate gap
with respect to the wholesaler
to
75%
, an indicator that continues to climb from the 50% that it had touched at the beginning of this month.
The widening of the gap is a worrying sign for both the government and the market.
It works as a
disincentive for exporters
, which could delay the settlements pending the official dollar shorten distances, and also encourages importers to rush to register their operations.
Other quotes
The wholesale dollar, the segment in which banks and companies operate, rises 0.1% this Wednesday to
$ 93.42.
Interestingly, the retailer goes back seven cents at the open and trades at
$ 98.82
in the Central Bank average, which brings the savings dollar to
$ 163.
As has been happening in recent weeks, the rise in the blue dollar is a correlate of what is happening in the financial dollar market.
The MEP dollar, which is accessed through operations on the Buenos Aires stock market, increased 0.9%, to
$ 153.
For its part, cash with settlement (CCL), the legal strategy to withdraw foreign currency from the country, rises 1.3%, to
$ 156.7.
With these numbers, financial dollars accumulate monthly increases of around 7%,
above the inflation projected
for this month, estimated at 4%.
In this context of rise in alternative prices, the Central Bank continues to buy foreign currency.
It already adds up to
US $ 3.5 billion
so far this year.
A quarter of this amount was used to intervene in the bond market to prevent financial dollars from escaping.
In addition, the monetary authority managed to increase
net reserves by
US $ 1.75 billion
in the last 45 days and sustain gross reserves above US $ 40 billion for more than a week.
After several days of decline, the country risk rose again this Wednesday, with a rebound of 0.2%, which places it at
1,545 basis points.
For its part,
the Merval rises 2%
and Argentine shares in New York are mostly trading higher.
AQ
Look also
The rise of the blue dollar: there is a reason that nobody prefers to talk about much
The blue dollar resumes the climb: the five keys that explain the rise