Omar Mejia Castelazo is "commits" with inflation and the autonomy of Banxico

The Third Committee of the Permanent Committee of the Chamber of Deputies gave the go-ahead to Mejía Castelazo to join Banxico’s Governing Board with 10 votes in favor, 6 abstentions and none against.

It will be this Wednesday when the vote goes to plenary.

Mejía Castelazo said in his appearance that one of his priorities as deputy governor of Banxico will be to “attend” to inflation, respect the autonomy of the bank, consolidate the inflation regime, propose “in case there are improvements” the organization’s communication and strengthen the payment infrastructure.

“My commitment is also to communication, with this type of transparency and accountability exercises also greatly help the transmission of monetary policy,” said the economist in San Lázaro.

The aspiring deputy governor also stressed the importance of maintaining the sole mandate within the central bank to provide certainty that the job will continue to be to keep inflation at levels of 3% with a variable range of one percentage point up or down.

“This certainty is particularly valuable in circumstances such as the ones we currently find ourselves in, when shocks can push economic variables in different directions. Maintaining a priority objective allows us to draw a guide for clear actions,” he said.

The economist, who did not talk about his academic degrees or whether he had titles that back his studies, said that the country’s monetary policy faces challenges that must be addressed in the short term, especially inflation.

The deputies questioned him about his proposals to lower inflation and Mejía Castelazo said that due to Banxico’s current monetary regime, decisions take up to 8 quarters to take effect on inflation.

Mejía said that another challenge ahead will be to promote the healthy development of the financial system in the country.

“It is also important, especially in times where there is a greater tightening of international financial conditions, we have to be vigilant of the proper functioning of the financial system,” he said.