By Aida Pelaez-Fernandez
MEXICO CITY, April 23 (Reuters) - Mexico's 12-month inflation stood at 4.53% in the first half of April, data from statistics agency INEGI showed on Thursday, above expectations but slowing from the previous month.
Annual inflation in Latin America's second-largest economy eased from 4.63% in early March, but came in slightly above the 4.5% expected by economists polled by Reuters.
Inflation remains above the Bank of Mexico's target of 3%, plus or minus one percentage point,
fueling uncertainty over future monetary policy decisions.
"Mexico's high inflation rate for the first half of April (4.53%) occurred despite the scheduled downward adjustment of electricity rates," said Gabriela Siller, Banco Base's economic analysis director.
The analyst also questioned on X if the Bank of Mexico now put interest rate cuts on hold, or if the entity will use the inflation slowdown to justify further cuts.
Banxico's board members showed discrepancies about the impact that the conflict in the Middle East poses to Mexican prices, differing perspectives that became tangible in the 3-2 split decision to resume the bank's rate easing cycle last month cutting the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 6.75%, minutes from the latest meeting showed.
The closely watched core price index, which strips out some volatile food and energy prices, reached 4.27% in the 12 months through early April, compared with 4.46% in the first half of March.
Month-on-month consumer prices rose 0.11% during the first half of April, also slightly above the 0.09% increase expected by economists in the poll, while the core price index landed at 0.18%.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Jorge Ollero and Ricardo Figueroa; Editing by Gabriel Araujo and Nick Zieminski)
