A vendor wearing a face mask waits for customers at a wholesale food market amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Mexico City, Mexico, on June 18, 2020. (Photo by Francisco Canedo/Xinhua)
In a statement, the bank detailed that Banxico's five board members unanimously agreed to increase the target for the overnight interbank interest rate by 75 basis points to 9.25 percent.
MEXICO CITY, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) decided on Thursday to raise the key benchmark interest rate for the eleventh straight time, amid fears of further effects from increasing inflation and uncertainty about the local economy.
In a statement, the bank detailed that Banxico's five board members unanimously agreed to increase the target for the overnight interbank interest rate by 75 basis points to 9.25 percent.
According to Banxico representatives, the balance of risks regarding the course of inflation "continues a considerable upward bias."
The bank projected that inflation will close the year at 8.6 percent, higher than the 8.1 percent estimated in August and well above the official target of 3 percent; for 2023, it projected an inflation of 4 percent.
"Global inflation continued to grow in an environment where imbalances between supply and demand persist in various markets, along with high food and energy prices," Banxico said.
In addition, the central bank indicated that it expects a slowdown in the local economy's growth pace in the third quarter of 2022, so it remains "an uncertain environment" with an activity risk balance that shows a downward bias.
Meanwhile, the national Consumer Price Index stood at 8.76 percent year on year through the first half of September, still at its highest level in more than two decades, according to the most recent data.
In June 2021, Banxico began a cycle of raising the key interest rate in view of price increases derived in part from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. ■
