By different means, the few dollars that enter the country drain from the reserves of the Central Bank.
In January,
"Individuals" purchased USD 551 million net,
mainly for expenses made with cards for consumption with foreign suppliers.
And 727,000 people made purchases of foreign currency banknotes for hoarding with a net of USD 139 million, 9% more than in December.
On the other hand,
"Interest" was paid net for USD 1,313 million.
"Within gross interest payments, USD 1,328 million were made by the "General Government and BCRA", while
the private sector totaled payments of USD 276 million
", according to the Evolution of the Exchange Market and Exchange Balance of the Bank Central.
Meanwhile, the foreign exchange financial account of the General Government and the BCRA resulted in a deficit of USD 3,138 million, mainly explained by gross payments of capital to the International Monetary Fund for an equivalent of USD 2,641 million (1,975 million SDRs).
On the other hand,
for exports, US$ 414 million entered net
from export receipts for USD 4,577 million and import payments for USD 4,163 million.
This surplus is much lower than the US$ 1,101 million of January 2022.
All these movements, among others, explain that in January the BCRA's international reserves fell by USD 3,181 million, ending the month at a gross level of USD 41,417 million.
According to the BCRA Report, "this drop was mainly explained by principal payments to the International Monetary Fund, principal and interest payments by the National Government in foreign currency, BCRA sales in the foreign exchange market and by net payments from BCRA through the Local Currency Payment System, movements that were partially offset by the rise in the price in US dollars of the assets that make up the reserves and by the increase in the holdings of the entities in the BCRA”.
Last year for travel tickets and other card payments abroad and freight and insurance, US$ 10,296 million left.
And in interest on public and private debt, another US$7,291 million, of which US$1,785 million corresponded to payments to the IMF and US$851 million to cancellations with the rest of the financial organizations.
A total of US$ 17,587 million.