mexico citymexicos inflation eased in march to its lowest level in more than a year as fresh food and energy prices fell from the previous month the consumerprice index rose 027 last month pushing the 12month inflation rate down to 685 from 762 in february the national statistics institute said wednesday it was the smallest annual increase since october 2021 core cpi which excludes agricultural products and energy but includes processed food rose 052 in march on a monthly basis and was up 809 from a year earlier compared with an annual rate of 829 in february fresh produce and energy prices fell in march from february while increases in airfares and tourism costs ahead of the easter holiday week pushed services inflation higher the bank of mexico raised its overnight interestrate target by a quarter percentagepoint to 1125 on march 30 in a sign that a nearly twoyear long monetarytightening cycle was near its end the central bank said inflation had eased faster than expected and future rate decisions would depend on inflation conditions at the time at recent meetings the bank of mexico has specified its intention of continuing to raise the interest rate of the 31 bank analysts polled this week by citigroup inc unit citibanamex 21 expected the bank of mexico to raise the rate by an additional quarter point to 115 at its may meeting and 10 analysts predicted the central banks next move would be to start lowering rates later this year or in early 2024 we no longer see rate hikes on the horizon we change our call to no more hikes from expecting an additional 25bp hike in may given the central banks communication and that we foresee quite benign inflation prints in the upcoming months barclays analysts gabriel casillas and erick martínez said in a report following the bank of mexicos decision