The Government paid the IMF $852 million and BCRA reserves fell below $49 billion

The international reserves of the Central Bank (BCRA) fell sharply on Thursday, August 6, and returned to below $49 billion, after the Government made a payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of $852 million, official sources confirmed to Ámbito. Specifically, the gross stock decreased by $1.224 billion, ending at $48.835 billion.

Thus, the drop erased the increase from the previous session, when reserves had surpassed $50 billion and reached a new high since 2019.

Additionally, the valuation also played against it, although with a much smaller impact than the payment to the organization. Gold fell by 0.22% and would have reduced the book value of the Central's holdings by about $25 million. Meanwhile, the global dollar rose by 0.27%, while the euro fell by 0.30% against the US currency and the pound dropped by 0.12%. In contrast, the yuan showed a slight appreciation and the yen fell by 0.46%.

In the official market, the BCRA purchased $41 million, in a session with a traded volume of $689 million. Thus, the monetary authority absorbed about 6% of the total traded and raised the buyer balance for August to $95 million.

With this result, the accumulated purchases in 2026 reached $13.422 billion. Furthermore, the Central has recorded seven consecutive sessions with a positive balance, although the pace in August is still far from the performance observed in July.

In fact, the daily average of purchases for the month stood at $24 million, compared to $103 million in July, $68 million in June, and $137 million in May. Consequently, the buying flow continues, but with an insufficient magnitude to offset large-scale external payments such as the maturity with the IMF.

On the exchange front, the wholesale dollar rose by 0.20% and closed at $1,499.50 for sale. Thus, the quote was again on the verge of $1,500, a zone that in recent sessions has once again acted as a sensitive reference for the market.

In parallel, the official dollar A3500 fell by 0.12% to $1,518.24. With these values, the distance between the wholesale rate and the ceiling of the band, located at $1,814.21, remained at 19.49%, so the quote still operates far from the upper limit of the exchange scheme.

Among the alternative dollars, the MEP rose by 0.10% to $1,520.28, while the cash with settlement fell by 1% to $1,565.18. Meanwhile, the blue dollar dropped by 0.65% and closed at $1,530. Thus, the gap between the blue and the wholesale rate narrowed to 2.03%, while the exchange rate fell to 2.95%.

In futures, the curve operated with widespread increases. August rose by 0.36%, September increased by 0.36%, December gained 0.43%, and the 2027 contracts also closed in positive territory. On average, the overall variation was 0.36%.

With these movements, the implicit rate for August stood at 1.59% monthly, equivalent to 19.03% annualized. Meanwhile, in pesos, the TAMAR fell from 23.13% to 22.88%, while the BADLAR decreased from 22.31% to 20.88%.

The coverage dynamics were once again under observation due to an additional restriction: the liquidity of the system. According to market estimates, the stock of overnight repos from banks with the BCRA, used as a reference for excess pesos, fell on Wednesday to $0.82 trillion, the lowest level since late February.