Overview
- Banco Nación’s retail dollar was about $1,480 buy / $1,530 sell on Friday, October 16, with the BCRA’s bank-average sale near $1,533 and the wholesale (mayorista) reference around $1,513–1,514.
- Financial and parallel channels stood apart on the same day: MEP near $1,531–1,536, CCL about $1,615–1,616, the informal blue roughly $1,525–1,545, and the tarjeta rate at about $1,989.
- Daily bank-by-bank listings reported to the BCRA show small but meaningful variation across lenders, with official retail quotes clustered around the BCRA average while tarjeta rates include a fixed tax premium that raises card costs.
- Regional FX benchmarks were routine: Peru’s interbank closed near 3.4230 soles per dollar, Mexico’s market reference sat around 18.4376 MXN per USD with Banxico’s last FIX near 18.4250, and Brazil’s parallel real quoted higher than official levels.
- These multiple simultaneous rates reflect capital controls, taxes and fragmented market channels that directly affect consumers’ out‑of‑pocket costs for foreign spending and shape how firms and investors obtain dollars through securities, informal market trades or card payments.