Argentina’s central bank bought US$369 million in the five sessions ending Friday, 2 October 2026, as households kept buying dollars and the country’s purchases remained tied to a target agreed with the International Monetary Fund. Ámbito reported that the weekly total was the largest since July. The figures put state reserve buying alongside private demand for dollars.
The IMF target and reserve buying
The Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA) bought US$70 million on Tuesday, US$160 million on Wednesday and US$93 million on Thursday. On Friday, it added US$35 million. Gross reserves rose US$364 million that day, reaching US$48.653 billion.
By then, the BCRA’s purchases in 2026 had reached US$14.696 billion, above the US$10 billion target for the year agreed with the International Monetary Fund. Economy Minister Luis Caputo projected US$19.4 billion in purchases for 2026. Reaching that figure would require about US$5 billion more, and iProfesional reported that the market viewed the required pace as demanding.
September brought the weakest month since the buying program began early that year. Daily purchases averaged US$22 million, compared with US$38 million in August and US$137 million in May. The central bank hadn’t published its September exchange balance, so estimates of household purchases for that month remained unconfirmed.
Traders disagreed over the source of the BCRA’s large Wednesday purchase. Some pointed to San Juan province, which had raised US$600 million in New York days earlier. Gabriel Caamaño of the consultancy Outlier estimated that much of Wednesday’s purchase had been arranged directly as a block outside the market. The source wasn’t confirmed.
Companies and provinces placed almost US$3.2 billion of dollar debt in September, and analysts expected more such deals. Those transactions fed a debate over how the central bank was obtaining dollars as it sought to meet its 2026 purchase target.
Households buy dollars
In August, households bought US$2.853 billion in banks, according to the central bank’s exchange balance cited by iProfesional and Infobae. After sales, net purchases came to US$2.463 billion, made by about 1.7 million buyers. About US$1.1 billion stayed on deposit in local banks.
Three banks told iProfesional that net September sales probably exceeded US$2.7 billion, a preliminary estimate. The figure remained unconfirmed because the BCRA hadn’t published its September exchange balance.
From April 2025 to August 2026, individuals bought US$47.29 billion gross and US$40.34 billion net, Infobae reported from central bank data. Many of those dollars ended up outside the financial system, adding to the US$268.8 billion in “mattress dollars” estimated in June.
On 3 October, analyst Salvador Di Stéfano argued in iProfesional that individuals had bought twice as many dollars as the central bank. He put individual purchases since December 2023 at US$72.9 billion, against US$36.5 billion bought by the central bank. His breakdown put individual purchases since April 2025 at US$63.8 billion, above the official gross figure of US$47.29 billion. His column didn’t specify which data series it used; even the lower official figure exceeded the central bank purchases he cited for the entire period.
Di Stéfano called the trend benign, citing a US$26.8 billion rise in private dollar deposits and US$21.7 billion more in dollar loans. He described a tax on dollar purchases floated that week by economist Santángelo as “a delusion.” Former central bank chief Martín Redrado told iProfesional that the open question was whether dollars would cover both debt payments and rising dollarization. On Friday, country risk reached a 2026 high of 655 points, El Economista reported.
Analysts quoted by iProfesional disagreed on whether the week’s purchases were a one-off. October buying had yet to show whether it would keep the pace of its first two sessions.