Thursday, January 24, 2008

Mexico Jan. Consumer Prices Rise Less Than Expected


Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican consumer prices rose less than economists expected in the first half of January because of declines in tomato and travel costs.

Consumer prices rose 0.27 percent in the first 15 days of the month, compared with a 0.20 percent increase a month earlier, the central bank said today on its Web site. The rate was less than the median estimate of 0.38 percent in a Bloomberg survey of 18 economists.

``This is going to put some of their worries about inflation at ease,'' said Rafael de la Fuente, senior economist for Latin America at BNP Paribas in New York, in a telephone interview.

Mexico's central bank, after raising the benchmark interest rate twice in 2007, may reverse tack and cut it later this year should the U.S. face a recession and hurt the Mexican economy, said Delia Paredes, senior economist at Banco Santander in Mexico City, ahead of the report.



Mexican consumer prices didn't rise as much as economists predicted it would for the month of January. Because of this, Mexico doesn't have to worry so much about inflation.

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