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Argentina's Official Dollar Holds Near $1,500 as Central Bank Buys Billions and Band Ceiling Rises

The inflation-driven band update expands the legal ceiling and gives the central bank room to accumulate reserves.

Overview

  • In mid-July, official rates stayed around $1,495–$1,500 while INDEC reported June inflation at 1.9 percent, a result that raises the exchange-rate band ceiling for August to about $1,879.97.
  • The Banco Central accelerated net dollar purchases this month, with market reports of single-day buys near $532 million and July accumulations above $1.1 billion, lifting year-to-date purchases to more than $12 billion and gross reserves to roughly $48.5 billion.
  • Parallel and financial-dollar segments traded at noticeable premia over the official rate, with the blue around $1,505–$1,530, MEP near $1,512–$1,519 and CCL about $1,564–$1,571, leaving a CCL–official gap close to 6 percent.
  • The Treasury tapped local-dollar and dollar demand by adjudicating USD 470 million of the Bonar 2029 (AO29) and reopening a USD 150 million tranche, a sign that high domestic rollover and demand for peso instruments remain central to financing plans.
  • Rising oil prices and renewed US–Iran hostilities have pushed global risk aversion higher, pressuring emerging-market currencies and raising the odds that Argentina’s delicate mix of reserve rebuilding, debt refinancing and domestic peso demand could face stress.