(Reuters) -Mexico’s annual inflation rate came in line with market expectations in April, official data showed on Thursday, accelerating from the previous month but still within the central bank’s target range.
That should allow the Bank of Mexico to keep lowering borrowing costs in Latin America’s second-largest economy, which faces a weakening trend amid mounting global trade uncertainties, analysts say.
Consumer prices in Mexico rose 3.93% in the year through April, according to national statistics agency INEGI, roughly in line with economists’ forecasts in a Reuters poll and up from 3.8% the previous month.
Mexico’s central bank, also known as Banxico, has an inflation target of 3%, plus or minus a percentage point.
Last month it cut its interest rate by 50 basis points for the second consecutive time to 9%, the lowest since September 2022, and policymakers have signaled that further easing should come if inflation holds steady as expected.
In April alone, consumer prices rose 0.33%, according to non-seasonally adjusted figures, while the closely watched core index, which strips out some volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.49%. Both were in line with market forecasts.
(Reporting by Ricardo Figueroa and Isabel Teles; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Louise Heavens)
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