Mexico ends year with inflation at 7.36%, most in 20 years
FILE - Vendors wait for clients at the La Nueva Viga seafood market, part of the Central de Abastos, the capital’s main market, in Mexico City, Dec. 9, 2020. Mexico closed 2021 with inflation of 7.36%, the highest rate in two decades, fueling concern among analysts that the rate of price growth will continue in the coming months, which could put pressure on the Bank of Mexico to make further adjustments in interest rates. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico ended 2021 with an annualized inflation rate of 7.36%, the highest in 20 years, the national statistics institute said Friday.
Inflation in December continued at about the same rate as in November, and was led by fresh food products, air travel and other rising costs.
The institute said inflation was last that high in 2001.
Mexico’s central bank faces pressure to increase interest rates, without constraining economic growth. The country’s interbank interest rate is around 5.50%, and the target inflation rate of 3% seems a very distant goal.
Some analysts see inflation continuing high through the first quarter of 2022.