According to a report by the consulting firm PUENTE, accessed by the Argentine News Agency, the dollar is expected to continue losing value against the euro, while cuts by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) are presented as an "opportunity." The 2025 report focuses on economic prospects and opportunities for 2026, divided into three axes: recent indicators from the US Federal Reserve, the dynamics of the dollar, and a view on Latin America. The Fed lowered its interest rate by 25 basis points, positioning it in the range of 3.5%-3.75%. According to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, this decision accompanies the need to "maintain economic stability in a context of moderate deceleration." The Fed will continue to monitor the evolution of the labor market, inflation, and global risks. In the short term, the outlook is for the dollar to continue temporarily losing value against other developed currencies, amid expectations of another rate cut in 2026, the impact of trade policy, and concerns on the fiscal front. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) left its interest rate unchanged at 2.15%, noting that inflation over recent months has hovered around the 2% annual target and the economy continues to expand. Most central banks in Latin America have softened their monetary policy stances over the last two years through gradual interest rate cuts. However, Brazil's case is detailed, where it made a "shift" in its stance due to rising inflationary expectations, leading the Brazilian entity to start raising its interest rate to 15%, a level it maintained at its December meeting. Chile and Mexico: reference rates were cut to 4.5% and 7.0%, respectively. Paraguay: remained unchanged at 6%. Uruguay: stands at 8% until its next meeting this week. Regarding the currencies of each country, the dollar's decline had a disparate impact on regional exchange rates. Among them, the appreciations of the Chilean peso (3.6%), followed by the Mexican peso (2.8%), and the guaraní (2.6%) stand out. In contrast, depreciations were observed in the Argentine peso, the Colombian peso, and the Brazilian real: -3%, -2.9%, and -2.4% in each case.
