Mexico
Mexican paper sees need for ‘combination’ of policies to reduce informal labour
Measures to reduce entry barriers to and relative value of formal labour could be in order, working paper published by Bank of Mexico finds
Mexico should ‘phase out’ daily FX sales, IMF staff say
Staff at IMF find interventions have ‘contributed to stability’ in the foreign exchange market, while a report following Article IV consultations recommends moving away from daily auctions
Mexican governor granted second term on board
Carstens set for reappointment as governor after securing second term on board; his first term is widely viewed as a success, with one economist highlighting stable inflation
Mexican board split on July rate decision
Minutes from the July 30 board meeting show three board members voted to hold the key rate at 3%, with one member favouring a 25bp hike and another absent
Bank of Mexico moves policy decisions after Fed meetings
Mexican central bank delays remaining policy decisions so they fall a few days after FOMC announcements; wants to be able to react to rate hike ‘in a timely manner’
Mexican deputy cautious of data-dependent Fed policy
Manuel Sánchez sees potential for smooth tightening if markets are able to price in rate changes, but remains alert to risk Fed is pushed into acting faster than planned
Bank of Mexico delivers $2 billion surplus to the government
The 12.4% depreciation of the peso against the dollar in 2014 had a positive impact on the Bank of Mexico reserves, allowing the central bank to deliver a $2 billion surplus to the government
Interview: Manuel Sánchez on shifting financial stability risks
Bank of Mexico deputy governor speaks about monetary policy normalisation in the US, the limits of macro-prudential tools and developing capital markets
Carstens expects Mexican inflation to end year at 3% target
Bank of Mexico governor expects inflation to end the year at 3% target, but does not rule out an interest rate increase if prices start to rise due to a weaker peso
Sánchez encourages ‘realistic’ expectations of macro-prudential tools
Bank of Mexico deputy governor considers effectiveness of macro-prudential tools and the potential unintended consequences at Central Banking training series
Bank of Mexico lays out new rules for local derivatives
Interest rate swaps will have to be traded on electronic platforms and derivatives exchanges and transacted through clearing houses, according to new rules
Bank of Mexico paper warns of EM bond runs
Paper stresses vulnerability in face of Fed lift-off, even with low levels of leverage, noting mechanisms essentially unrelated to degree of leverage can determine financial stability
Mexican deputy tells EMs to assume US rate hike coming ‘sooner rather than later’
Javier Guzmán Calafell advises emerging markets to prepare ‘as fast as possible for a worst-case scenario’ in anticipation of the Federal Reserve tightening policy later this year
Bank of Mexico expands dollar sales to stabilise peso
Mexico’s central bank is slowing the pace of reserve accumulation to fund $52 million daily auctions for the next three months, after the peso hit an historic low
Colombian paper analyses relationship between term premia in US and Latin America
Brazil and Colombia are the Latin American countries with the largest responses to changes in the US term premium, according to research published by the Central Bank of Colombia
Fed hawk Fisher receives Mexican eagle award
Richard Fisher granted Order of the Aztec Eagle by Mexican president; Agustín Carstens praises the Dallas Fed president’s use of ‘simple and straightforward’ language
Colombian paper examines synchronisation of economic cycles in Latin America
Central Bank of Colombia working paper finds there is ‘not a high’ level of synchronisation between a sample of seven Latin American countries
Prolonged weakness of Mexico’s peso could impact inflation, says central bank deputy
A weakening of the Mexican peso could lead to a pick-up in inflation and ‘should be carefully monitored’, says Manuel Sánchez
Bank of Mexico expects inflation back on target in 2015
Inflation in Mexico ended the year slightly above target, at 4.08%; Agustín Carstens expects it will converge to the goal of 3% ‘from mid-2015’
Bank of Mexico sells dollars to stop peso decline
Bank of Mexico will buy up to $200 million worth of pesos a day, after a currency depreciation that it fears could boost inflation and push the central bank into an interest rate hike
Active FX intervention could have long-term costs, says Bank of Mexico deputy
Central bank policies to manage capital flows ‘may have resulted in short-term benefits’ but their costs in terms of market distortions ‘may be high’
Lagarde lauds new Mexican bonds with ‘strengthened' collective action clauses
Mexico issued $2 billion in 10-year bonds with new collective action clauses, which Lagarde says ‘will play a critical role in enhancing the architecture for sovereign debt markets’
Banxico deputy says stagnant TFP 'by far' economy's biggest problem
While TFP in China has increased dramatically since the 1980s, in Mexico it has remained ‘basically flat', notes Manuel Sanchez
IMF finds Mexico well-placed to weather capital market volatility
Mexico should be able to ‘weather’ a rise in volatility, says the IMF, since the country has a healthy buffer of international reserves and ‘deep and liquid’ financial markets