Mexico Central Bank Governor Carstens plans to step down

Mexico Central Bank Governor Agustin Carstens will step down next July to run the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the central bank said.

The announcement of Carsten’s plans comes as the Mexican economy is bracing for economic challenges while President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. Trump campaigned vowing to revise or possibly scrap trade agreements with Mexico, sending the Mexican peso into volatile trading before and after the election. The peso has lost some 17% of its value this year.

Carstens has worked to keep a lid on inflation as the peso weakened. So far this year, the Mexican central bank has raised interest rates by 2 percentage points. The central bank raised its benchmark interest rates last month by 50bp to 5.25%.

In a statement, the bank said Carstens plans to spend the next six months “working to keep the value of the currency stable.”

Carstens is expected to assume his position at BIS, a forum for central banks based in Basel, Switzerland, in October 2017.