The Bank of Mexico hiked rates by more than expected on Thursday Dec. 15.
Banxico, as the bank is usually called, hiked rates by 50 basis points to 5.75%, up from the prior rate of 5.25%.
Economists had forecast that the bank would hike rates by 25 basis points, according to the Bloomberg consensus.
“The decision by Mexico’s central bank to raise interest rates […] underlines the point that, while the peso has stabilized in recent weeks, policy makers will remain focused on containing the inflationary pass-through from a weaker currency,” wrote Capita Economics’ Neil Shearing in a note.
Previously, in its first meeting after Donald Trump’s election, Banxico hiked rates by 50 basis points to 5.25% — its highest rate since 2009 — up from 4.75%.
The Mexican peso is up by 0.2% at 20.4172 per dollar as of 2:04 p.m. ET. Ahead of the rate decision, the peso was down by about 0.4% against the dollar.
Source: businessinsider.com