MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday he will nominate finance ministry official Galia Borja to serve as a new deputy governor of the central bank, part of the monetary authority’s five-member board.
The nomination, if approved by the Senate, would give Lopez Obrador’s three picks to date, a majority on the bank’s governing body.
Borja, who currently serves as treasurer, is set to replace Javier Guzman, known as one of the central bank’s more hawkish board members, applying a more cautious approach to cutting the its main lending rate.
The bank, known locally as Banxico, has a constitutional mandate to ensure the “purchasing power stability” of Mexico’s peso currency.
Irene Espinosa is currently Banxico’s only female board member.
Last month, Banxico’s hawks appeared dominant as they defied expectations and held borrowing costs steady for the first time in nearly 1-1/2 years.
(Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Dave Graham)
