MEXICO CITY, May 19 — Mexico’s central bank yesterday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record high of 11.25 per cent, pausing after 15 consecutive increases aimed at cooling inflation.
The governing board considered that Latin America’s second-largest economy has “started to undergo a disinflationary process,” the Bank of Mexico said in a statement.
“In order to achieve an orderly and sustained convergence of headline inflation to the 3 per cent target, it considers that it will be necessary to maintain the reference rate at its current level for an extended period,” it added.
Like many of its foreign counterparts, the Bank of Mexico has been trying to tame consumer price pressures that it attributed to pandemic-induced supply shocks and the war in Ukraine.
After reaching two-decade highs above 8 per cent last year, annual inflation eased to 6.2 per cent in April, the lowest since October 2021, according to official figures.
The central bank expects inflation to gradually decline to 3.1 per cent by the fourth quarter of 2024, but warned that “the inflationary outlook is still very complex.” — AFP