Overview
- The Banco Central de la República Argentina bought US$532 million in one session on July 14, extending its streak of consecutive net-buying days to 126 and marking the largest single-day purchase of the Milei era.
- That operation lifted gross reserves to US$48,687 million and brought July purchases to roughly US$1,102 million and year-to-date buys to about US$12,267 million.
- BCRA officials and market sources say the record purchase was driven by the liquidation of a negotiable obligation and heavier supply in the Mercado Libre de Cambios, and trading pushed the wholesale dollar down about ARS10.50 that day.
- Analysts caution headline measures overstate the central bank’s share of the market because a provincial debt liquidation and other one-off placements concentrated volume that the BCRA absorbed.
- The intervention fits a sustained 2026 strategy of reserve rebuilding backed by limited sterilization, extended repo terms with international banks, and net purchases that market estimates put above US$10 billion for the year so far, a pattern whose durability will depend on recurring export and debt-related inflows.