Mexican Peso Tests Yearly Lows

2026-03-12 19:00 By Felipe Alarcon 1 min. read

The Mexican peso weakened toward 17.83 per US dollar on Thursday as escalating energy shocks and defiant rhetoric from Tehran revived the safe haven bid for the greenback.

This move follows a statement from Mojtaba Khamenei that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed which has pushed a repricing of global inflation risk.

Locally the Bank of Mexico balanced between annual inflation climbing to 4.02% in February to breach the 4% upper threshold for the first time in nearly a year.

This acceleration was driven by significant spikes in processed foods and a 9.88% surge in fruit and vegetable prices while core inflation remains stubborn at 4.5%.

These data points have effectively diminished the likelihood of a March interest rate cut and reinforced expectations for a hawkish pause to the easing cycle.

While higher oil prices benefit fiscal accounts the peso remains vulnerable to a broader flight from risk as geopolitical instability and 10% global import taxes cloud the export outlook.



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