Despite the drought of the last few months, and helped by the soy dollar, the last 3 years and 3 monthsIt’s in Argentina many more dollars that came in for exports than went out to pay for imports; no less than US$45,777 million in trade surplus, according to the Central Bank’s current account exchange balance.
As it entered, that huge favorable balance vanished without an increase in central bank reserves, with the aggravating circumstance that increase in public debt in foreign currency US$10,484 million and private debt US$4,218 million.
Now, with the drought, the exchange rate situation has worsened from an exchange surplus to an exchange deficit. Only in the first three months of 2023, red for “current account” is US$2,020 million, when there had been a US$486 million surplus a year earlier.
These figures prove it commodity trading operations were in deficit to US$747 million compared to a surplus in 2022 of US$1,853 million.
Of the $45,777 million that entered the Central Bank from foreign trade between January 2020 and March 2023, nearly half ($22,481 million) remained in interest payments by industry and private individuals.
Interest was paid to the IMF of $5,086 million, to the rest of the international financial organizations another $2,928 million, and $3,983 million for interest maturities on bonds and securities. Meanwhile, the private sector paid interest of US$10,484 million.
The Services account grossed a whopping $18,393 million. Here, despite the stocks, the dollars that have come out stand out travel and other card payments and from transport.
Most of this shortage happened last year, once the pandemic and quarantine were behind us.
In 2022, “in the year total, the services bill recorded a cumulative deficit of $10,106 million, representing a 127% increase over last year’s cumulative figure, driven primarily by growth in gross “Travel, tickets and other card payments” and, to a lesser extent, “Transport and Insurance” in a context of higher prices for international freight transport,” says the Central Bank Report.
For its part, in 2023, “in the cumulative through March, net expenses for services amounted to 2,244 million dollars”.
In the capital movements it is highlighted that between disbursements and payments, there was a net IMF profit of US$7,487 million and from the rest of the financial organizations another US$ 2,588 million.
THE the payment of public and private debt consumed US$ 18,663 million and outside business training – which includes the US$200 per month allowed – another US$4,568 million.
During this period, public debt in foreign currency increased by US$ 14,412 million (from US$ 248,945 million to US$ 263,357 million). Debt to the IMF rose from $44,129 million to $46,041 million. And private debt rose from $83,187 million to $87,405 million at the end of 2022.
In summary: it was not the lack of trade dollars that characterized those years. Despite stocks, interest, debt payments, goods and tourism explain that the country has no reserves of this enormous amount of foreign currency and accumulates a public and private debt that continues to advance unabated.
Source: Clarin
