The Day at a Glance | August 24 2020

The Top

· Inflation continues to rise in Mexico.

· FDA in the United States approves a COVID-19 treatment based on blood plasma from people that have recovered from the sickness.

Economic environment

INEGI figures confirm a 0.24% acceleration in the Consumer Price Index during the first half of August. With this, the annual rate of inflation reached 3.99% (3.9% e.), boosted by a rise in goods (0.26% biweekly) and mainly fruits and vegetables (2.24%). Additionally, the annual rate figures were affected by a low comparable basis, as last year`s August numbers were extraordinarily low. The price of energy resources sharply slowed down their upwards trend (-0.01% biweekly) and the underlying index grew 0.18% during the period (3.93% annual), due to services prices remaining stagnant (0.09% biweekly). Even though the trend keeps going upwards, their acceleration has slowed down compared to prior periods. Inflation is expected to stay within Mexico`s central bank`s objective (3% +/- 1) in the following months and allow greater cuts in interest rates to be carried out before the end of the year.