The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said this Thursday during his morning conference that he will be respectful of the autonomy of the Bank of Mexico; however, he would very much like the institution to also boost economic growth
“One function of the bank is inflation control. And another that we would like very much, but that we only think about, is that growth also be promoted: inflation and growth control. Because you can control inflation, but if there is no growth, there is no progress either, “he said.
He added that “our responsibility is to respect the decisions made by Banco de México.”
The executive pointed out that one of the mechanisms that the central body has to control inflation is the increase or reduction of the interest rate.
“If there is inflation, sometimes they decide to increase the interest rate. If inflation is controlled, lower the interest rate. If you lower the interest rate you are stimulating investment, because money costs less ”.
Some analysts, observers and legislators have expressed their concerns about the potential interference of the federal government in the decisions of the central bank as a result of the nomination of Victoria Rodríguez Ceja, current Undersecretary of Expenditures in the Ministry of Finance, as future Governor of the Bank of Mexico .
However, Rodríguez Ceja said he was committed to preserving the central bank’s mandate.
“Banco de México is a great institution that has a very solid team where it is really necessary to comply with the very clear mandate, which is to maintain the price level, which also benefits the most vulnerable people. My commitment is to fulfill that mandate ”, said the official during her participation in the same morning conference.
Rodríguez Ceja’s position in the Ministry of Finance ends today and in January she will become the governor of the central bank.
Budget for social programs
During his participation, Rodríguez Ceja also made a report on the progress of the exercise of social programs in 2021. He said that social programs as a whole had a progress of 3.7% higher than the approved budget for 2021.
Official data show that the amount approved for this item was 328,782 million pesos; however, 340,000 million pesos were exercised.
According to the official, the programs that have had a greater advance over their original budget are the pension for older adults with an advance of 110 percent. It was followed by the Youth Building the Future program with an advance of 99.4%; Production for Wellbeing with 99.7%, Sowing Life with 99.3% and Scholarship Programs with 98%.
Starting in January, Victoria Rodríguez Ceja will replace Alejandro Díaz de León, who is currently the governor of the Bank of Mexico.
“In sum, with the budget that the government has been allocating to the population, 23 million beneficiaries are already served, which represents 65% of households,” he said.
These programs will have a budget for 2022 of 445,520 million pesos.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx