Looking at
the way Argentines choose to pay and manage their money
serves, among other things, as
a thermometer
to understand how the local economy works. In February, at the pace of a sharp drop in activity and consumption,
fewer cash withdrawals
were made in banks than had been seen the previous month.
The data might sound encouraging: in the midst of the rise of digital wallets, Argentines have finally decided to reduce the use of cash. However, the official figures complete this photo with another detail that draws at least attention: although in February there was a slight growth,
in quantities and amounts,
in transfers between people,
there was a drop in the use of the payments generated via QR code.
The data comes from the latest Retail Payments Report published monthly by the Central Bank and corresponds to the second month of the year. Coincidentally, February is a month where, seasonally,
the demand for pesos falls.
But the numbers put a
yellow signal
to observe the trend.
The report shows
a drop of more than 20% in amounts withdrawn
from the Argentine bank ATM network, compared to the previous month. While the average amount per extraction remained stable with respect to what had been seen in January, around $20,400, the
number of operations and the total amount contracted:
in January 109.4 million extractions had been carried out in the network of ATMs operating in the country, a number that was reduced to 89.4 million last month.
"Extra-bank" withdrawals also contracted,
that is, those made at supermarket checkouts and pharmacy chains:
10% fewer
operations were carried out in February, which reached 5.5 million according to the latest data, compared to what had been seen the previous month.
The Central data also shows that, although the different options for managing pesos from the cell phone gain importance in the year-on-year comparison, there is a very slight growth in the use of immediate transfers and a
drop in the use of payments via QR.
For example, the total amount of immediate transfers made between people increased just 0.5% in the second month of the year, while the number of operations increased by 0.9%. On the contrary, there was
a drop in payments with transfers via interoperable QR,
the system promoted by the BCRA in recent years, both in amounts and in transactions.
The Central report shows that, before the rate reduction that Santiago Bausili faced in the second week of March and which affected all returns in pesos,
the place of virtual wallets as an investment vehicle through common funds was maintained.
In the country there are 16.7 million payment accounts, with invested balances of $1.1 trillion, with data as of January.
"Both concepts, considered together,
represent 3.45% of the total private sector deposits,
which was $40.8 billion in the aforementioned month. Currently, 144 PSPs are incorporated into the registry that offer payment accounts," the Central noted. This data presents almost no variations with respect to what had been seen in December.
.
NE
.