In the first four months of this year travel, tickets and other expenses abroad with the cardsThey consumed a total of $2,462 million, 42% more than in the same period in 2022. On the other hand, tourists from abroad entered through those same items 598 million dollarsgenerating a deficit of US$1,864 million, according to Central Bank records.
Between January and April 2022, the dollar outflow for these items was US$1,731 million and income only US$128 million. This strong increase on the income side is explained by the application of the tourist dollar to those coming from abroad.
In this way, despite the Qatari dollar, the item travel, ticket and card expenses was generating an outflow of about 600 million dollars a month at the beginning of this year, which contrasts with the average of just 150 million dollars a month from foreign tourists .
Foreign exchange movement in April shows that, despite restrictions on payments for imports and income from the dollar-soybean and regional economies, in April the Central Bank’s international reserves decreased by US$ 4,059 million.
This was mainly caused by capital payments to the International Monetary Fund of USD 2,668 million (equivalent to SDR 1,975 million) and the decrease of approximately USD 900 million in foreign currency holdings that entities deposited with the BCRA.
What happened last month, according to the BCRA’s “Evolution of the Exchange Market and Exchange Balance” report released this Wednesday was as follows:
• Export receipts of $6,299 million and import payments of $5,397 million were recordeds, leaving a surplus of U$S 903 million, less than a year ago (+ U$S 1,403 million) due to drought.
+ The “Services” account recorded a deficit of USD 506 million due to net expenses for “Travel, tickets and other card payments” (439 million USD) and “Freight and Insurance” (265 million USD). “These movements were partially offset by net proceeds from ‘Commercial, Professional and Technical Services’ and ‘Other Services’ of $183 million and $15 million, respectively,” the Report said.
+ Net interest payments amount to US$310 million “Of the gross interest payments, US$162 million were made by the “Government and the BCRA”, of which US$139 million correspond to interest payments with international organizations (excluding the IMF), while the sector totaled payments of USD 178 million”.
• Net purchases of tickets by the 724,000 “Human People” amounted to 147 million8% higher than in March and 4% higher than in April 2022, and made $4 million in sales.
+The financial account of the “Non-financial private sector” showed a deficit of USD 852 million, showing foreign asset purchases of USD 397 million and payments of foreign loans and debt securities of USD 317 million,
The BCRA report explains that the “Oilseeds and Grains” sector totaled $2,741 million (-30% YoY) in foreign exchange sales for goods exports through the foreign exchange market in the month, of which $1,463 million correspond to the third edition of the “Export Enhancement Program” (exchange rate of $300 to the dollar).
Payments for goods imports ($5,397 million) were down 10% from April 2022. of external activities due to advances made previously”, clarifies the BCRA Report. .
Source: Clarin
