MEXICO | Mexican Secretary of State for Finance Victoria Rodriguez has been appointed governor of the Central Bank of Mexico by left-wing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, ahead of the first woman in the post as the country experiences its highest inflation in years .
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Ms. Rodriguez’s appointment has yet to be ratified by the Senate where President Lopez Obrador’s party has a majority with his allies.
Ms. Rodriguez was preferred at the last moment by the president to the former Minister of Finance, Arturo Herrera.
“This is the first time that a woman will take the head of the Central Bank of Mexico,” said the head of state during his morning press conference.
An economist by training, Ms. Rodriguez had been the head of finance for the regional government of Mexico City.
“She acted with a lot of responsibility not to spend for the sake of spending,” underlined the left-wing head of state, who advocates a policy of budgetary austerity.
That same week, another woman, Loretta Ortiz, was elected among the eleven members of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. His appointment was approved by the Senate.
The announcement comes as Mexico recorded inflation of 7.05% in the first fortnight of November, a record in 20 years.
Annual inflation stood at 6.24% in October, more than double the targets of the Bank of Mexico (Banxico).
Faced with inflation, Banxico announced on November 11 a fourth consecutive hike in its key rate, to 5%.
Financial analysts believe that the withdrawal of Mr. Herrera could cause “uncertainties” among investors and fuel doubts about the independence of Banxico, member country of the OECD and fifteenth world economy.
The current governor, Alejandro Díaz de León, will end his term on December 31.
The Mexican economy, the largest in Latin America after Brazil, shrank 8.5% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.