Buenos Aires, Feb 5 (NA) – On the day IMF technicians arrived in Argentina, the Central Bank's (BCRA) international reserves fell below $45 billion after the country made a debt payment of $823 million to the organization. To do this, Argentina used part of the funds loaned by the U.S. Treasury. To prevent the payment from heavily impacting reserves, the BCRA managed to purchase $126 million, the highest amount in nearly three weeks. Dollar Exchange Rates In the wholesale segment, the dollar closed at 1,442 pesos. Meanwhile, the blue dollar closed at 1,420 pesos for purchase and 1,440 pesos for sale. In this context, the CCL (Contado con Liquidación) dollar closed at 1,501.46 pesos, with the gap to the official dollar at 4.1%. The MEP (Mercado Electrónico de Pagos) dollar closed at 1,460.80 pesos, with a 1.3% gap to the official rate. The card dollar or tourist dollar, equivalent to the official retail rate plus a 30% surcharge deductible from the Income Tax, quoted at 1,898 pesos. The crypto-dollar or Bitcoin-dollar traded at 1,503.53 pesos. Meanwhile, Bitcoin itself is trading at $63,771.60.
