The Central Bank acquired USD 57 million for its reserves

At the center of the macroeconomic defense driven by the government of Javier Milei, the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) completed this Tuesday August 11, 2026 the largest purchase of foreign currency in the official exchange market so far this month, acquiring a total of USD 57 million for its international reserves.

In a currency trading session where USD 510 million was traded (with USD 515.6 million recorded in cash according to other sectoral records), the monetary authority strategically absorbed 11% (specifically 11.1%) of the traded volume.

With this magnificent operation, the accumulated buyer balance for August rose to USD 181 million, allowing the total foreign currency purchases accumulated by the libertarian management in the year 2026 to comfortably surpass the barrier of USD 13.500 million, reaching the exact figure of USD 13.508 million.

Additionally, the BCRA extended its remarkable streak of ten consecutive sessions with a positive balance in the market. To dispel any doubts sown by opposition sectors, the president of the entity, Santiago Bausili, was emphatic regarding the recent tension over interest rates, officially declaring: "The reserves and liquidity are at adequate levels".

Despite the fact that the pace of reserve accumulation in August is averaging USD 26 million per day —below the USD 103 million recorded in July, USD 68 million in June, and USD 137 million in May—, Tuesday's session demonstrated a strong recovery in the official flow of income.

This consolidated the gross international reserves in the area of USD 49.561 million (with USD 49.651 million recorded according to the exchange balance sheet), remaining firmly above the key floor of USD 49.000 million.

This remarkable stability was achieved in an international scenario where gold advanced slightly by 0.20%, the global dollar remained stable, the euro fell 0.03%, the yuan showed no variations, the yen dropped 0.05%, and the pound rose just 0.01%.

The rigorous discipline of the economic plan has had a direct impact on the domestic exchange market, which has shown clear signs of easing.

The wholesale dollar fell 0.33% (that is, five pesos) to close its quotation at $1.490,50 for sale, definitively moving away from the barrier of $1.500 that the market had been testing speculatively. With this result, the official exchange rate recorded its third consecutive decline, distancing itself from the nominal maximum of $1.499,50 recorded on Thursday August 6.

Furthermore, the BCRA set a ceiling for the exchange rate bands at $1.857,23, which left the wholesale rate with a safe gap of $366,73 (equivalent to 24.6% of that managed floating limit), marking the widest safety range since June 11.

As the currency operator Nicolás Merino from ABC Mercado de Cambios succinctly put it: “Everything indicated that, in the absence of demand as firm as that observed during the past week, the market could continue to decompress”.

In alternative quotations, calm also prevailed thanks to official signals: the MEP dollar fell 0.20% to $1.523,84, while the cash with settlement (CCL) dollar experienced an increase of 1.70% closing at $1.612,12.

On the other hand, the blue dollar rose 0.98% to $1.550, leaving the exchange gap between the informal and wholesale rates at a controlled 3.99%. It is noteworthy that the informal dollar has already fallen $20 so far in August, reaching a gap below 3% compared to the official rate in previous sessions. Meanwhile, the swap climbed to 5.79%.

Looking ahead to the coming days, market attention will be fully focused on the imminent Treasury auction. Analysts from the money desks suggest that the pace of purchases by the BCRA impacts the recomposition of liquidity in the banking system, especially considering that the stock of repos from banks with the monetary authority is limited.

An intelligent strategy of rollover below 1x could be used by the economic management authorities to inject pesos, easing pressure on rates, while perfectly aligning with the unwavering libertarian objective of keeping the exchange rate firmly below the $1.500 zone.