Mexico

Mexico is studying options to absorb as much as $40 billion in Pemex debt, the equivalent of what will come due in the next presidential term, one of its top finance officials told investors in New York, Bloomberg News reported. The government is considering options that could include repurchasing bonds issued by the heavily indebted state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos or issuing sovereign debt to fund buyouts, Deputy Finance Minister Gabriel Yorio told investors, according to people who participated in the meeting.

Mexico’s headline inflation sped up more than expected last month, likely cementing a rate hold at the central bank’s monetary policy meeting later on Thursday, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 4.65% in April from a year earlier, up from 4.42% in March, the National Statistics Institute reported Thursday. The reading was slightly above the 4.63% median estimate from analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Mexico's economy grew 0.2% in the first quarter compared to the previous three-month period, a preliminary estimate from the national statistics agency showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Compared with the same quarter a year earlier, the economy grew 1.6%, the statistics agency said. Read more.

Mexico’s annual inflation shot past forecasts in the first half of April, likely cementing a rate hold at the central bank’s May monetary policy meeting, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Wednesday showed consumer prices rose 4.63% from a year before, above all estimates in a Bloomberg survey that had a 4.51% median forecast. Core inflation, which excludes volatile items like food and fuel, slowed to 4.39%. Stubborn price pressures have made it more difficult for analysts to predict whether policymakers’ March interest rate reduction was the beginning of continuous easing.

Mexico’s leading presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum said she expects Petroleos Mexicanos, the world’s most indebted oil producer, to refinance its bonds ahead of upcoming maturities in 2025, Bloomberg News reported. “By necessity it has to be in 2025, because there is a maturity of part of the debt coming up in the next year, and we have to work on that,” she said in an interview on the sidelines of Mexico’s annual banking convention in Acapulco.

Mexico’s central bank cut interest rates for the first time since 2021 in a split decision, finally joining a regional trend for monetary easing as inflation slows, Bloomberg News reported. The bank cut its key rate a quarter point to 11% on Thursday, as forecast by 26 of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Deputy governor Irene Espinosa voted to leave the rate unchanged, while the other four board members all backed the reduction, the bank said in its policy statement.

Bank of Mexico Deputy Governor Omar Mejia argued in a podcast published on Wednesday that it is not premature to consider lowering the bank's benchmark interest rate, though he cautioned that any future cuts should remain restrictive, Reuters reported. The bank's interest rate currently stands at a historic high of 11.25%, and the monetary authority is set to meet later this month.

Mexico’s headline inflation eased much more than expected earlier this month, reinforcing bets that central bankers in Latin America’s second-largest economy could soon join the region’s wave of interest rate cuts, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 4.45% in the first half of February compared to the same period a year prior, down from 4.87% in late January, the national statistics institute reported Thursday. The reading was below all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey that had a 4.7% median estimate.

The total financial debt of Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex totaled $106.8 billion at the end of last year, according to preliminary data released by the country's president on Wednesday, Reuters reported. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador revealed the debt data in a chart from a presentation on Pemex, one of the world's most indebted oil companies, at his regular government press conference. The presentation was dated Feb. 20. It was not immediately clear whether the figure he cited will be included in Pemex's quarterly financial results expected next week.