Mexico to sell US$52 million daily to halt peso slide
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico’s central bank announced Wednesday that it will sell US$52 million per day over the next three months to stop the peso from sliding further after the currency reached historic lows.
The daily auction comes on top of US$200 million that the bank has been selling since December on days that the peso drops by 1.5 per cent from the previous day’s closing price.
The sale will begin Wednesday and run through June 8.
The bank, in a joint statement with the finance ministry, said the auction aims to “prevent additional pressures that could disturb the orderly functioning of the foreign exchange market”.
The peso has hit its weakest point since March 2009, when the country was in recession. The Mexican currency was worth 15.90 pesos against the dollar on Tuesday.
Analysts say the peso’s fall is partly due to a sharp drop in global oil prices, which have forced Latin America’s second biggest economy to slash its budget and reduce its growth outlook.
