Buenos Aires, Aug 1 (EFE).- The price of the US dollar in the informal market in Argentina broke a new record on Tuesday due to the growing purchases for coverage in the run-up to the primary elections and fears of a further devaluation of the Argentine peso.
The US currency rose 10 pesos on Tuesday in the parallel market, to a new maximum of 560 pesos per unit.
Meanwhile, at the state-owned Banco Nación -where operations are restricted to 200 dollars a month per person and under certain conditions-, the dollar rose one peso, to a maximum of 287.50 pesos for retail sales.
At these values, the gap between the official price and the so-called “blue dollar” is 94.7%.
Market analysts attribute this new increase in the price of the informal dollar to a greater appetite for the US currency, which traditionally tends to grow in the days leading up to elections in Argentina, a country that will hold presidential primaries on August 13.
But in addition, the demand for coverage is fueled by the persistent uncertainty generated by the macroeconomic imbalances in Argentina, whose meager monetary reserves continue to be under pressure even after reaching an agreement with the “staff” of the International Monetary Fund, an organization that will not issue disbursements to the South American country until after the primaries.
“The presumption is that the ruling party, for obvious political reasons, could adjust the official dollar after the primaries,” said the firm Portfolio Personal Inversiones in a report on Tuesday.
The value of the dollar in the official wholesale market rose 90 cents this Tuesday, to a new maximum of 276.15 pesos per unit.
Meanwhile, the value of the dollar of the financial mechanisms for more sophisticated investors operated with a different trend.
The so-called “cash with liquidation” dollar -CCL, which consists of buying shares or bonds locally with Argentine pesos and selling them in dollars on Wall Street- advanced 1.9%, to close at 561.91 pesos per unit.
For its part, the “bag dollar” or “MEP dollar” -which is obtained by buying assets that are listed both in pesos and in dollars, are paid in pesos when acquiring it and are sold in dollars- fell 0.2%, at 509.15 pesos per unit. EFE
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