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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's central bank said Thursday it will increase dollar auctions from $52 million to $200 million per day through the end of September to stabilize the badly weakened peso.
The Bank of Mexico also announced it would lower the level of currency market volatility needed to trigger the auction of an additional $200 million. The additional auction will occur when the peso falls 1 percent or more in a day, rather than the previous trigger of 1.5 percent.
The central bank originally announced the dollar auctions in March, when the peso fell to a record low amid expectations of interest rate hikes in the United States.
But it has continued to drop since then, falling as low as 16.45 on Thursday.
The peso has lost 11 percent of its value against the dollar since the beginning of January, and has dropped almost 25 percent in value in the last year.
Mexico has about $190.7 billion in international reserves, and can also draw on a $70 billion IMF line of credit.
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