PROHIBIT selling trips abroad in installments / Argentina News

The Central Bank (BCRA) ordered, through Communication 7407, which informed the card entities and issuers that From now on, purchases made through cards, tickets to other countries and tourist services abroad cannot be financed in installments.

In addition, the BCRA specified that “plane tickets destined for within the national territory may be financed with a credit card within the programs of Now 12 promoted by the national government. “He added that the purchase of plane tickets” destined abroad can be financed with a credit card at a rate of 43%. ”

Textually, communication A 7407 released this Thursday says: “As of 11/26/21 financial and non-financial entities issuing Credit cards They must not finance in installments the purchases made by credit cards of their clients – human and legal persons – of tickets abroad and other tourist services abroad (such as accommodation, car rental, etc.), whether made in the form directly with the service provider or indirectly, through a travel and / or tourism agency, web platforms or other intermediaries “.

The new dollar stocks will arrive 10 days before the elections and weeks before the summer season begins, that is, the moment when this type of hiring is accelerated. It is an attempt to curb a currency outflow for tourist expenses abroad, although the projections speak of a significant decrease in the number of local residents who would choose to spend the summer outside the country, due to the cost differential and the difficulties in accessing the dollar.

The following is the communication A 7407 complete that the BCRA announced:

Today the interest rate for these operations is around an average of 43% annually. In the case of tickets and domestic tourism packages, they can be marketed through the Now 12 program.

According to this measure approved today by the entity’s board of directors, All services contracted abroad that are paid by card must be paid in a single payment or financed with the 43% rate set for the “minimum payment” of the summaries.

The resolution prohibits the application of dues for the payment of tourist services both to card issuers directly and through travel platforms, as established by the entity’s communication.

Alert: BCRA reserves “are not enough”

The exchange problems are every time plus complex, something that is reflected in an increasingly strict stocks.

“The level of net international reserves is close to worrying lows. The outlook is not encouraging”, warns iProfessional Ivan Cachanosky, economist at the Fundación Libertad y Progreso.

According to the figure reported by the BCRA itself, the monetary agency has approximately u $ s43,000 million of total reserves.

“Nevertheless, almost the 84% of that amount does not belong to the Central Bank. On the one hand, there are the private dollar deposits for an amount that is around almost US $ 12,000 million. On the other hand, there is little more than US $ 20,000 million corresponding to the swap with China, “Cachanosky warns.

In summary, according to this expert, in total the reserves are composed as follows:

-Private deposits: u $ s12,000 million.

-Swap with China: $ 20,000 million.

-Other international organizations (mainly the BIS): u $ s 3,150 million.

-Counterpart against the Treasury for around US $ 500 million.

By subtracting these items from the total reserves, the net reserves that the agency has to intervene in the market emerge.

“Thus, the Net International Reserves (NIR) are around the u $ s7,000 million, but the situation is even more worrying. It does not mean that this amount is quickly available dollars, since within this figure there are almost US $ 3.5 billion in gold and another US $ 2.8 billion in SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) “, Cachanosky explains. .

Therefore, discounting these two concepts, he argues that the Bookings liquid and fast availability are “only” u $ s800 million.

“It is more than clear that in the face of an exchange emergency, no room to maneuver with so few dollars “, warns this economist.

The Central Bank has very low net reserves, and that lack of dollars worries the market.

According to the opinion of Pablo Repetto, director of Gabriel Rubinstein’s GRA consulting firm, net liquid reserves (including the SDRs used for payments, but excluding gold), “at the rate they have been falling since the beginning of September, reach arrive with just enough a week before elections“.

Therefore, since henceforth, if the fall in net reserves continues, “it will be against gold position or against lace of deposits in dollars “, he emphasizes.

Gone is the memory that, by mid-September, net reserves had climbed to $ 10 billion. A figure that quickly disappeared because that month a debt payment installment had to be paid to the IMF, so they were reduced to the mentioned level of US $ 7,000 million.

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