The blue dollar rose another two pesos this Wednesday and stretched to
$383.
With this price it is tied with the
Qatar dollar,
the one that governs foreign expenses of more than US$300 per month, which until now was the most expensive in the world. market.
In a market with limited supply and limited demand, the informal market started the year with momentum:
it has already risen 10.7%
and reached the highest nominal price recorded to date.
After the exchange rate summer that took place between November and December, when the alternative dollars barely moved, the blue woke up and rose at a rate that practically doubles the inflation expected for the month.
The reasons for this jump are linked to the greater demand of tourists who travel abroad and who prefer to carry tickets, while foreigners who arrive in Argentina no longer find it so tempting to change their dollars to the little trees.
Since mid-December, the dollar has been in force for foreigners, which allows visitors to pay with a card and receive a price similar to that of the MEP dollar, which stands at
$352
.
The jump in the blue is also motivated by the evolution of inflation.
After the slowdown in November and December, in January, the record is once again close to 6% without any signs of a change in the short term.
With the blue at $383,
the exchange gap with the wholesaler reaches 107%.
The Government's objective is to bring this gap below 100%, as it happened in December.
For its part, the MEP closed at
$352
, a drop of 0.5%, while cash with liquidity ended at
$366,
which also marks a nominal record.
Is there room for them to continue rising?
"
The MEP and CCL dollar should be worth more than $400 today,"
says economist Salvador Di Stéfano
.
"The dollar is one more asset in this economy and it is clear that until today it has risen less than inflation."
The prospect that fewer dollars will enter this year due to the drought, together with the dollarization appetite of election years, rising inflation, and the chances that public spending will increase in the middle of the campaign
, reduce the government's chances of disarming expectations and achieving let the "free" dollars go down.
"Argentina has a solvency problem and the government is mistaken in believing that it has a liquidity problem," summarizes Di Stéfano.
The Central Bank had to go out again to sell dollars on this wheel.
This time he lost $56 million
.
In the first fortnight of the month, the Central accumulated a purchase balance of
US$ 285 million.
But in the second fortnight the balance turned around and now that balance is
reduced to US$27 million.
Country risk rose 0.5% to 1,834 basis points
, while Argentine bonds had a negative wheel with falls of around 0.5%.
The Merval climbed 4.3% and accumulates an advance of 28.7% in the month.
AQ
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