MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -The Bank of Mexico held its benchmark interest rate at 11.25% for a sixth consecutive monetary policy meeting on Thursday, as expected, saying progress on bringing inflation down had been made even as the outlook remained challenging.
The decision by the central bank’s five-member board was unanimous, the bank said in a statement.
Banxico, as the bank is known, repeated previous guidance that it would need to maintain the benchmark rate at its current level “for some time” in order to bring inflation to its 3% target, plus or minus one percentage point.
Banxico also maintained a previous forecast that inflation would converge to target in the second quarter of 2025.
Banxico’s board has been weary to signal the start of a rates-cutting cycle even as regional neighbors Brazil and Chile cut rates in the face of easing inflation.
Annual headline inflation in Mexico, Latin America’s second-largest economy, slowed to its lowest level since February 2021 in October, hitting 4.26%, before ticking up in November to 4.32%.
(Reporting Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Anthony Esposito)