For the anti-inflation plan that the Mexican president is promoting to work, a shock program is required, a multisectoral agreement that also involves the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Mexico, professors from the Institute for the Industrial Development and Economic Growth (IDIC) and the SaVer think tank.
The Bank of Mexico is the one that has the toolbox to seek price stability and we are sure that in any strategy that the president presents to balance the internal conditions of the market, it will have to go through the diagnosis and guidance of the central bank, he warned. the senior investment consultant of the fund manager, Ignacio Saralegui.
Interviewed separately, they refer that the pressure maintained by prices, particularly those of food and energy, comes from external sources. Therefore, the plan or agreement that can be presented internally must only consider the factors in which the tension can be lowered, those that unblock the internal bottlenecks that are affecting prices, explained the director of the IDIC, José Luis de the cross.
They would have to develop a strategy involving fiscal, monetary, industrial and trade policy measures that are attractive enough for the private sector to adhere to.
The expert stressed that when the president is the one who is verbalizing his intention to promote a plan to help maintain stability in the price system, “he is tacitly acknowledging that monetary policy does not have the capacity on its own to control prices on this occasion. ”.
Therefore, a greater intervention is required in all economic policy schemes, even involving development banks, while at the same time putting together a medium-term plan aimed at reducing vulnerability to external shocks.
Logistics and insecurity would unlock prices
Meanwhile, the researcher and professor at SaVer, Luis Pérez Lezama, observed that there is much to be done in the domestic factors that are putting pressure on prices.
It specifically refers to logistics in the distribution of products, insecurity and lack of competition.
It cannot be overlooked that in Mexico we have an immature market with low supply conditions, which limits the possibility of having more competitive prices. And it is in this segment where it would be relevant to involve the Ministry of Economy, he commented.
We also need to offer favorable fiscal conditions so that industrialists can support the anti-inflation agreement without being the ones to absorb the cost, he commented.
The SaVer expert noted that the Bank of Mexico’s participation in any plan against inflation is necessary, and considered it important to know the strategy that the central bank will implement far beyond interest rates.
They should be looking for exchanges of experiences with other central banks, coordination with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and support from international experts to manage the monetary policy arsenal to help alleviate inflation, he stressed.