Marco del Pont, the rise of the parallel dollar “is a clearly seasonal phenomenon”

January 13, 2013
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Central Bank President Mercedes Marco del Pont said the parallel dollar rally is “a clearly seasonal phenomenon” and added, “It should not affect the definition of cost price makers.”

The head of the central bank stressed that the influence of the dollar blue “is marginal and does not affect the functioning of the foreign exchange market”, where the government has imposed severe restrictions on foreign exchange purchases and banned last July 5 savings in foreign currency.

The parallel dollar closed Friday at 7.20 pesos for sale to the public, so the gap against offered at banks and exchange houses to 4.96 pesos remained at 45.16 percent.

The gap between the two markets was only 2.5 percent in December 2010 and
9.72 percent at the end of 2011, but was expanding as the Government implemented more controls on foreign exchange purchases.

At the end of 2012 when the official dollar was sold to 4.93 the parallel was 6.79, the gap was 37.7 percent.