MEXICO CITY: Possible interest rate increases in the months ahead are unlikely to have a major impact on growth in Mexico, central bank governor Agustin Carstens said on Tuesday.
"In reality we don't think it would be that significant," Carstens said when asked on Mexican television how potential interest rate increases this year would affect growth.
Carstens was referring to the likelihood that Mexico would have to follow suit if, as expected, the US Federal Reserve bank starts to raise interest rates later this year.
The central bank's main lending rate is currently at an all-time low of 3 percent in Mexico, a major oil producer that has been hit by the drop in crude prices in recent months.
Mexico's peso has lost roughly 15 percent against the US dollar in the last six months. Asked what the risk was of a major depreciation in the Mexican currency against the dollar, Carstens said he saw it as something "very remote.
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