Mexico’s central bank on Monday announced a financial stability plan including an increase in its foreign debt of up to US$5 billion, a statement said.
Mexico “will increase the financing planned originally for 2008 and 2009 with international financial organisms like the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank up to a sum of US$5 billion,” the statement said.
The plan was necessary because of “significant movements of the exchange rate, the index of the Mexican stock exchange and domestic and external interest rates,” the statement said.
The bank said it would lay down “a series of actions directed at relieving liquidity problems,” along with the government, including a reduction in the sales of fixed-rate, long-term peso bonds and treasury certificates.
SUPPORTING THE PESO
Mexico has sold off more than US$15 billion since Oct. 8 in bid to support the peso, which recently hit a series of record lows.
The central bank sold off another US$400 million on Monday. The peso changed hands at 13.30 pesos to the dollar in late trading, up from 13.62 pesos on Friday. After hovering below 11 pesos to the dollar for the past year, the peso began to depreciate significantly on Sept. 29.
PLUMMETING STOCKS
The Mexico stock exchange, or Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV), dropped 16.41 percent last week, or 3,333.99 points.
The BMV closed down 0.65 percent, or 110.18 points, at 16,868.66 points on Monday.
Mexico, Latin America’s second biggest economy, depends on the US for 80 percent of its exports and most of its remittances, its second-largest source of foreign income after oil exports.
The central bank said on Monday it had paid off US$8 billion in foreign debt in the last two years. Mexico has around US$40 billion in foreign debt, the central bank says.
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