The Central Bank of the Republic of Argentina (BCRA) announced changes to the exchange rate regime through a statement released on December 15th. Starting January 1, 2026, the U.S. dollar (USD) rate will be adjusted monthly to reflect trends in inflation.
countermeasure This is part of a new phase of financial programs The organization aims to strengthen price stability, remonetize the economy, and promote the accumulation of foreign exchange reserves.
Currently, since April, Argentina’s official exchange rate operates under an interband floating regime. Under this system, the dollar can move freely within the minimum and maximum limits set by the monetary authority (from P1,000 per month minus 1% to P1,400 per month plus 1%).
In such models, if prices approach either of these limits, financial institutions intervene by buying or selling dollars to avoid sudden fluctuations that could cause economic instability.
Dollar band program evolves in Argentina
According to BCRA, the band program was established with consideration to the integrity of the exchange rate after macroeconomic stabilization in 2024. This is based on fiscal discipline, the end of financial loans to the Ministry of Finance, and the abolition of endogenous issuance, which are the policies adopted by Javier Millay’s government when it took office in December 2023.
Therefore, as part of the move to a more flexible scheme, Starting next year, BCRA will change the band structure.. Both the upper and lower limits are adjusted monthly with a two-month lag (T-2) based on the latest inflation data reported by the National Institute of Statistics and Census of the Republic of Argentina (INDEC).
The group said the sliding band is not adjusted for U.S. inflation and its upper limit tends to increase in real terms over time. Still, they assert that the system will continue to serve its function of “limiting the risk of extreme and sudden fluctuations in exchange rates.”
Inflation in Argentina will continue to decline, according to BCRA
BCRA argued that the current government’s fiscal and monetary policies have made it possible to reverse the scenario in which annual inflation would reach a peak of nearly 290% in April 2024.
The group said year-on-year inflation in November 2025 was 31.4% and “expectations are firmly anchored and inflation is expected to continue.”
The new exchange scheme will be complemented by a pre-order program BCRA forecasts that the monetary base will rise from 4.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 4.8% by December 2026.
This increase could be provided through purchases of up to US$10 billion, depending on balance of payments flows.
The implementation of the program will be carried out in stages, with the first participants representing 5% of the daily volume of the exchange market. The monetary authorities reserve the power to make bulk purchases, which could otherwise affect the functioning of the exchange market.
The central bank emphasized that it would maintain a contractionary monetary bias.as long as domestic inflation exceeds international inflation. He also stressed that the bank will adjust its measures if funding needs are lower than expected.
In line with these changes, the organization also approved a new methodology for calculating the reference exchange rate (TCR) this month. This is scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2026, replacing the survey-based system that has been in place since 2002, CriptoNoticias reports.
With such criteria, the value of the base dollar is determined by a weighted average of actual operations and trading volumes, taking into account only operations placed on the screen that exceed USD 500,000.