Exchange rate reaches a new high of ¢694.43 in the wholesale market

QCOSTARICA – Despite an injection of US$32.1 million from the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) – Central Bank, the exchange rate experienced another high, rising ¢8.17 this week.

The dollar closed this Friday at ¢694.43 in the Mercado de Monedas Extranjeras (MONEX) – Foreign Currency Market, which means a new maximum value for the currency.

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On June 3, the high of ¢692.33 had been reported, the day on which, precisely, the Cental Bank announced a series of measures to mitigate exchange rate pressures.

The dollar exchange opened the week (on Monday) ¢686.26, according to data published by the Central Bank on its website.

At the commercial banks, most reported a sale price of ¢699, while the buy between ¢681 and ¢685.

The increase in the exchange rate occurred despite the fact that the BCCR intervened, in three of the five weekly Monex sessions, and sold US$32.1 million to meet the demand for foreign exchange from wholesale market participants. The injection of foreign currency accounted for 47% of the total purchase-sale of dollars for the week, with US$67.5 million traded.

Additionally, the Central Bank provided US$20.6 million to non-banking public sector entities during this week. The currencies sold by the BCCR are taken from its international reserves, which, until this Thursday, reported a balance of US$6.266 billion.

Róger Madrigal, president of the Central Bank, announced on June 3, a series of measures in the foreign exchange market. One was to reduce the time of Monex sessions to one hour a day, from 12 noon to 1 pm. Previously, it was 10 am to 1 pm.

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In addition, in order to recover its future reserves and be in a more comfortable position to intervene in the market, the institution initiated steps to request a loan of US$1,000 million from the Fondo Latinoamericano de Reservas (FLAR) – Latin American Reserve Fund.

Additionally, the Board of Directors of the Central Bank agreed, this Wednesday, June 15, to increase the minimum legal reserve (percentage of deposits that entities must reserve in the Central Bank) for operations in colones. The entity will take the percentage from the current 12% to 13.5% in the first half of July 2022, and to 15% from the second half of July 2022.

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