The president of the Central Bank (BCRA), Miguel Pesce, announced this Wednesday that tourists from abroad who visit Argentina will be able to access the exchange rate of the MEP dollar starting this Friday, after delays by credit card issuers; while confirming that the monetary entity will meet the reserve goal set for the end of the year.
Consulted about the implementation of the “dollar card” for foreign touristsPesce stressed that “by Friday, at the latest, the system will be operational.”
The measure, made official through Communication “A” 7630, exempts payments made by “non-residents through debit, credit, purchase or prepaid cards issued abroad” from settlement in the exchange market.
Specifically, tourists With this benefit, they will access the MEP dollar exchange rate, which currently trades at $316, instead of the retail one that does it at $166thus discouraging them from going to change their bills for cash in the informal market.
“We hope that this will continue through the month of November and December and that it will converge until reaching the goal of 60% next year. We are optimistic”
“We expected Visa to do it sooner. They have been telling us day by day that it is being implemented”he stated about the reasons for the delay in its implementation – originally scheduled for the beginning of this month – pointing to the credit card issuers that have to adopt the new system.
For his part, the president of the BCRA highlighted that inflation “is slowing down” since July.
“We hope that this will continue through the month of November and December and that it will converge until reaching the goal of 60% next year. We are optimistic,” Pesce asserted in dialogue with the press after his closing speech at the 2022 Monetary and Banking Conference organized by the monetary entity at the Hilton Hotel in Puerto Madero.
About the soybean dollar
Meanwhile, Pesce explained that the new edition of the Export Increase Program (PIE) –also known as “soybean dollar” which establishes a differential exchange rate of $230 per unit- is due to the fact that “some soybean producers had run out of stock”.
“Financial and economic conditions have changed since the first special dollar for exploitation ended. There is an offer of more than US$ 3,000 million that are very important to rebuild the reserves of the Central Bank”, argued the manager.
“We are going to meet the goal that we have set for the end of the year, especially with the income from the soybean dollar”
This measure, he ratified, “will help meet the goal of reserves that the Government has set”, of US$ 5,000 million by the end of the year.
Precisely Pesce emphasized that said goal will be met.
“We are going to meet the goal that we have set by the end of the year, especially with what comes in from the soybean dollar and other income that we are expecting from Chinese financing for dams, from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and other multilateral organizations,” he added.
Finally, when referring to the Central Bank interest rate, Pesce pointed out that a change in them is not yet being evaluated and that this will depend on “the inflation results for the month of November.”
