Argentinas Central Bank sold US$45.5 million on Tuesday in its first exchange market intervention in over a month. The peso lost ground anyway, with the wholesale exchange rate increasing by over 1% to AR$1490.5, one peso below the currency bands upper limit.
Although the monetary authority itself had not intervened since September 19, the Argentine and the U.S. Treasuries have been selling dollars in an attempt to contain the ongoing run on the peso.
On April 11, after striking a US$20 billion loan with the International Monetary Fund, the government moved from a crawling peg scheme of daily microdevaluations to a banded exchange rate. This allows the U.S. dollar to float between two values, and the Central Bank only steps in to contain the exchange rate if it reaches the upper band, which at the time of writing is AR$1,491.
All of the dollar exchange rates surged Banco Nacin, Argentinas main national bank, sold dollars at AR$1,515, a 1.3% increase compared to the previous day. The financial blue chip swap rate (CCL) jumped by 2.4%, trading at AR$1,607.7.
Sales offers below the upper limit of the band suggest the presence of the U.S. Treasury in the market, Gustavo Quintana, an analyst and broker for PR Corredores, posted on X.
On Monday, the Central Bank confirmed it had agreed a US$20 billion currency swap with the U.S.
Two weeks ago, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States bought pesos in the Argentine market as part of the negotiations under way in Washington to support President Javier Mileis government.
