He Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU) has recently published his Monetary Balance of January 2023, which details the values and variations of the main elements of monetary policy. Of the various elements highlighted in the report, one of the most relevant is the 2.16% monthly increase in net reserves, measured in dollars.
This increase comes after a cumulative drop of -10.8% in 2022, and translates into an increase of 327 million dollars from the 15,120 million that existed at the end of December last year, to reach the current 15,447 million dollars. .
When examining the balance of the BCU in more detail, it can be seen that 267 million dollars entered as transactions and 60 million dollars for “other flows.” According to the International Monetary Fund, reserve assets are those external assets that are immediately available and that are controlled by the monetary authorities to cover the financing needs of the balance of payments, for intervention in exchange markets with the objective of affect the exchange rate and for other related purposes.
It should be noted that if the same variable is measured in local currency, the result is different. As a result of the 3.29% depreciation of the dollar in the last month, net reserves fell by 1.38% in Uruguayan pesos, from 605,854 million pesos to the current 597,513 million pesos.
In relation to the intention to slow down inflation, which closed 2022 with an accumulated rate of 8.3%, the government reduced the monetary base from 131,119 million pesos last December to 122,999 million pesos in January 2023, reducing the money in circulation by 6.2% per month. In the breakdown of data, there is also a drop in issuance outside the BCU of -3.63% and a strong decrease in deposits in the banking system in national currency, which fell by 24.33% per month.
Dollar exchange rate this February 14, according to the Republic Bank (BROU) (buy and sell, respectively):
US dollar: $38.00 | $40.20
eBROU dollar $38.50 | $39.70
euro $39.82 $44.40
Argentine Peso (ARS) $0.05 $0.35
Brazilian Real $7.18| $8.98
