(Bloomberg) -- Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said his government may introduce changes to the $200 monthly limit on U.S. dollar purchases based on the official exchange rate.
“This is something that we are studying,” Fernandez said when asked during an interview with La Red radio station if he was considering restricting the monthly quota. He added that he will discuss the issue later on Saturday with the Economy Minister Martin Guzman.
In 2019, Argentina's central bank imposed the $200 quota on monthly greenback purchases per person. Later that year, under Fernandez's government, authorities added a 30% tax on those purchases. The tax would boost the current official exchange rate of 77.3 pesos per dollar in banks to about 100 pesos, which is still lower than the rate of around 130 pesos in the black market.
An official from the Economy Ministry, with direct knowledge of the discussions, said that the $200 quota will remain unchanged. The official, who asked not to be identified because the information isn't yet public, said further restrictions are not being studied.
Fernandez also said that the country's cash reserves are about $10 billion, at the same levels they were at when his presidency started on December 2019. “We received a country that was in default and in that context the pandemic began.”
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