Ana Clara Pedotti
08/01/2021 20:04
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 08/01/2021 20:04
In the midst of an
increasingly strict exchange rate trap
, and with still very strong restrictions for international tourism, since May the level of consumption of Argentines in dollars began to grow.
Although it still does so moderately, and presents a drop compared to what was seen twelve months ago,
in June these expenses had their second consecutive monthly rise.
Thus, with the increase in the parallel prices of the last sixty days, the sensation grows that
the dollar card,
which arises from the sum of the price of the currency in the official market plus the 35% withholding to accounts of the payment of the tax to the Earnings and 30% of the PAIS tax
, "is cheap"
and is an incentive so that, despite travel limitations,
Argentines spend again in foreign currency.
Is that, while the
blue closed July at $ 180, the "solidarity dollar" rose just 1% to end at $ 168
.
That gap of $ 12 is the one that Argentine savers are beginning to see, who are slowly turning to their plastics again to pay for dollarized consumption.
According to the latest
Exchange Market Evolution and Exchange Balance report
in June, human persons also
required US $ 133 million for payments in foreign currency
made with credit and debit cards (for example,
streaming services, such as Netflix or Spotify or purchases on e-commerce platforms, such as Amazon
).
This
is 29% more than what had been demanded in May
and represents 20% more than what had been left for this concept in June 2020, when consumption with credit cards in dollars totaled US $ 110 million.
Already in the fifth month of the year there had been a monthly rise
in these consumptions of 20% compared to what had been registered in April.
In any case, these amounts seem limited when compared with what happened in the same period of 2019,
long before the pandemic and the stocks
that were reinforced in the last two years.
The Central Bank report recognizes that the obstacles to international travel that persist in the country and the world today as a result of the coronavirus, the net deficit of the account
"Travel, tickets and other card payments", continues at minimum levels
.
If the month of June is taken as a point of comparison, two years ago this account showed a red of more than US $ 400 million.
For Guido Lorenzo, from the LCG consultancy, this increase in the demand for dollarized consumption is a variable to monitor. "He speaks of the fact that there is a
demand for foreign currency that is contained above all by the health situation
. As long as the travel restrictions are sustained over time and thanks to the exchange controls, it is a variable that will be kept under control this year." he explained.
However, the economist warned that if these consumptions continue to grow, the next few months could mean a small alert for the Central Bank. "If the perception is maintained that the solidarity dollar is cheaper than the parallel one, this can be an incentive for a greater demand that, in the long term,
can complicate the sustainability of the exchange current account
," he said.
Although the July numbers have not yet been closed, official data from the Central Bank show that last month the trend continued: until last Tuesday, the latest figure available,
the stock of credit cards in dollars averaged US $ 77 million
, the same as in all of June and a figure similar to the recent daily sales of the BCRA in the exchange market, to contain the demand from importers.
Last year, there had also been a month-by-month jump in dollarized purchases with plastics since the second semester, something that added to the enormous demand for purchases of banknotes for hoarding, ended in the super stocks established by Miguel Pesce last September .
Look also
The field settled US $ 3.5 billion in July, 53% more than last year
With inflation at 50%, they already propose a shock plan such as Austral or the 1 to 1