{"id":167434,"date":"2020-03-26T10:45:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T14:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.countingpips.com\/?p=167434"},"modified":"2020-03-26T08:06:03","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T12:06:03","slug":"whats-happening-in-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/2020\/03\/whats-happening-in-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Happening In Mexico?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"inves-2668845372\" class=\"inves-below-title-posts inves-entity-placement\"><div id =\"posts_date_custom\"><div align=\"left\">March 26, 2020<\/div><hr style=\"border: none; border-bottom: 3px solid black;\">\r\n<\/div><\/div><p><strong>By <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orbex.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Orbex<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Central Bank of Mexico brought forward its policy meeting by one week and cut the reference rate by 50 points.<\/p>\n<p>This came fast on the heels of the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.orbex.com\/blog\/en\/2020\/03\/fed-announces-fresh-funding-as-crisis-worsens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00a0Fed\u2019s own rate cut of 100 basis points,<\/a>\u00a0leading to a wider interest rate spread. In fact, the interest differential is higher now than before the Banxico joined the rate-cutting cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Presumably, this would lead to further strength in the peso. But, with all the risk aversion in the markets, that hasn\u2019t been the case.<\/p>\n<p>In particular, what\u2019s worrying analysts and maybe why the Banxico wasn\u2019t more aggressive in its rate cuts, is the potential for a rise in inflation.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Regular Measures Are Not Enough<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Of course, given the unprecedented financial situation as a result of COVID-19 (with one of the members of the Banxico\u2019s board being confirmed as infected), usual criteria don\u2019t apply.<\/p><div id=\"inves-84743878\" class=\"inves-in-content inves-entity-placement\"><hr style=\"border: 1px solid #ddd;\">\r\n<div id=\"inpost_ads_header\">\r\n<p style=\"font-size:10px; float:left; color:#666;\">Free Reports:<\/p><\/div>\r\n<div id=\"inpost_ads\"> \r\n<p style=\"font-size:15px; float:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/1ApBOV\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/investmacro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/graph_techs_PD.png\" align=\"left\" width=\"80\"  height=\"55\"\/><\/a>\r\n\t     <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/1ApBOV\"><b><u>Get Our Free Metatrader 4 Indicators<\/u><\/b><\/a> - Put Our Free MetaTrader 4 Custom Indicators on your charts when you join our Weekly Newsletter<\/p><br><br>\r\n<br>\r\n<br>\r\n<p style=\"font-size:15px; float:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/f3RrHX\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/investmacro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/cot_pie_80.png\" align=\"left\" width=\"80\"  height=\"55\"\/><\/a>\r\n\t    <a href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/f3RrHX\"><b><u>Get our Weekly Commitment of Traders Reports<\/u><\/b><\/a> - See where the biggest traders (Hedge Funds and Commercial Hedgers) are positioned in the futures markets on a weekly basis.<\/p><br><br>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<hr style=\"border: 1px solid #ddd;\">\r\n<br><\/div>\n<p>Inflation isn\u2019t as important as keeping the economy from collapsing outright.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, Mexico seems to have managed to stay away from the pandemic. The country has reported extraordinarily low numbers of active cases and deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, President Lopez hasn\u2019t expressed as much concern as other leaders for the pandemic. And, he continues to encourage the economy.<\/p>\n<p>There have been a couple of theories for why Mexico is in a unique situation.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>There\u2019s More than Meets the Eye<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The more cynical explanation for Mexico\u2019s lack of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.orbex.com\/blog\/en\/2020\/03\/is-covid19-the-worst-virus-in-human-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00a0COVID-19<\/a>\u00a0cases is that they simply aren\u2019t being reported because they aren\u2019t bothering to test.<\/p>\n<p>A lower number of infections means fewer lockdown measures are necessary. Therefore, less economic impact. This accusation is often leveled at many countries, with some openly admitting that they simply do not have the resources to do enough tests.<\/p>\n<p>Another, perhaps more hopeful explanation, is that the disease spreads less virulently in warmer weather or climate. Or, perhaps more accurately, in more arid conditions.<\/p>\n<p>The theory is that the virus cannot survive as long on surfaces that dry out quicker. This would explain the slower spread in North Africa and the Middle East, yet still the rapid spread in tropical countries like Indonesia and the Philippines.<\/p>\n<p>That said, neither explanation or hypothesis has been proven.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Not Out of the Woods<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>But, even if Mexico has significantly fewer cases than other countries, it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s immune to the world economic fallout.<\/p>\n<p>Countries are tightening their borders, radically slowing down world trade. This is a vital consideration for Mexico which depends on exports to the US.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, Mexico might actually benefit from the lower crude prices, since they have become a net importer of late. That might help marginally offset what many economists see as inflation coming from the inevitable government stimulus programs.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What Now?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Banxico isn\u2019t supposed to meet again for another month. But, of course, given the circumstances, that does not mean we can\u2019t have action from the bank soon.<\/p>\n<p>The BMV has followed the rest of the world\u2019s markets down over fears of lack of liquidity. The question is whether the Banxico is going to catch up with other central banks\u2019 more aggressive moves.<\/p>\n<p><strong>By <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orbex.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Orbex<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Orbex The Central Bank of Mexico brought forward its policy meeting by one week and cut the reference rate by 50 points. This came fast on the heels of the\u00a0Fed\u2019s own rate cut of 100 basis points,\u00a0leading to a wider interest rate spread. In fact, the interest differential is higher now than before the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167434"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167467,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167434\/revisions\/167467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}