The US dollar traded half a cent higher and closed at 9.085 pesos in Buenos Aires City banks and foreign exchange offices. The Central Bank bought 90 million dollars.
Meanwhile, the so called “blue” dollar decreased five cents to end at 13.52 pesos, ámbito.com reported. In early trading, greenbacks in the informal market hit 13.65 pesos.
This way, the «blue» fell after two days steep increases: it had gained 55 cents in 48 hours. The gap between the illegal rate and the official US dollar stands now at 48.8 percent, after reaching almost 50% yesterday.
Most of the underground exchange houses yesterday closed their doors early in the morning and didn’t even pick up their phones due to new raids and inspections by Central Bank officials. Only a few transactions were carried out with regular clients, leading to the increase of the exchange rate.
Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández today again steeply criticized traders for carrying out illegal transactions yesterday and warned the government was ready to carry out more raids. He described the illegal market as “really small” and said the Central Bank was keeping a close watch on underground exchange houses.
Economy Minister Axel Kicillof linked the exchange rate increase to “some people who go against the government and start saying there are problems with the dollar or with the foreign currency reserves.”
Source: Buenos Aires Herald