The free dollar rises to $203 and stock prices also advance

The free dollar is offered up 50 cents this Monday, to $203 for sale. It should be remembered that the informal currency was traded on a $199 floor last Tuesday.

The wholesale dollar is agreed with a profit of 30 cents, at $110, with an exchange rate gap of 84.5% compared to the informal dollar.

“In the month the official dollar depreciated 2.08% while the cash with liquidation appreciated 4.1%. The gap closes the week at 78% levels, below the 120% highs of a few months ago. We hope that the closer implementation of the program with the IMF and the liquidation of agriculture will continue to ease the pressure on the gap,” said Paula Gándara, Head Portfolio of Adcap Asset Manager.

Following the approval of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the Upper House, the Fund's board will now vote on March 25 - as confirmed by the organization - on the agreement it signed with Argentina for the debt. Although March 22 is the expiry of a commitment to the IMF, the agency gave the Government the possibility to pay the next two maturities without falling into default.

The Fund's communiqué signed by spokesman Gerry Rice has four central axes: it recognizes the broad social and political support achieved for the agreement; it highlights the hard work of the Argentine authorities; it reports on the postponement of the deadlines scheduled for 21 and 22 of this month by about 2.014 million Derechos Giro Specials (SDR) in total, which may be finalized until March 31 without being considered in default, and confirms that the board will meet on March 25 to vote on the memorandum.

The Central Bank's international reserves declined last week by about USD 25 million and ended at 37,013 million dollars. The monetary institution holds a buyer balance in the wholesale market of about USD 500 million in the course of March.

The BCRA board is considering increasing the benchmark rate by 1.5 to 2 percentage points in the short term to adapt the performance to high inflation, a source with direct knowledge of the subject told Reuters.

On the other hand, faced with an inflation rate that showed a sharp increase in February, President Alberto Fernández gave a speech on Friday just to announce the creation of a wheat stabilization fund. The market expected more concrete announcements on how to stop price increases.

“The final approval of the agreement with the IMF is a step forward that avoids greater macroeconomic complexity for the time being, mainly in financial terms. However, this does not solve the internal problems facing the Argentine economy, which will have to be addressed, sooner rather than later, and despite the resistance within the ruling political space, through a stabilization program. It is not in vain that the President's announcement, although not very wise given the context, about the war that is beginning”, summarized Martín Calveira, researcher at the IAE Business School of the Universidad Austral.

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