Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday that he was confident inflation control measures taken by his administration will slow down rising prices in the country.
“We are helping to control inflation,” Lopez Obrador said at his daily press conference in the Pacific Coast resort of Puerto Vallarta, in western Jalisco state, where he was on a working visit.
“While it’s no consolation, inflation in Mexico is lower than that of the United States and Europe due to what we have done and will continue to do,” Lopez Obrador added.
Inflation in Mexico accelerated to 8.16 percent year-on-year up to mid-July, its highest level since January 2001, according to information released by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography earlier in the day.
The Mexican government’s main inflation strategy has been to contain the rise in prices by subsidizing fuel prices and capping the cost of certain foods.
The strategy has kept Mexico from becoming “completely overwhelmed” by inflation, said the president, predicting a possible drop in the price index worldwide by October or November.
In 2021, Mexico saw an annual inflation of 7.36 percent, its highest level in more than two decades, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Central Bank of Mexico has raised the benchmark interest rate nine times in a row in recent months to its current level of 7.75 percent, to contain growing inflation.
