Annual headline inflation in the first half of the month reached 7.94%, beating both the 7.77% recorded in the month of December and economists' forecasts of 7.86%, though still below the two-decade high of 8.70% registered in August and September. That means annual inflation remains far above the Bank of Mexico's target rate of 3%, plus or minus one percentage point. It is unlikely that the bank will make any cuts to the interest rate in the next six months, Bank of Mexico board member Jonathan Heath said in an interview last week. In the first half of January, according to statistics agency INEGI, consumer prices rose 0.46% compared to the previous two-week period, while the core index rose 0.44%, both also exceeding market estimates. Mexico's Latin American peer Brazil, where monetary tightening is on pause, also released mid-month inflation data on Tuesday, with prices slightly beating market forecasts.

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