Credit: REUTERS/HENRY ROMEROAdds quotes and context
MEXICO CITY, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The Bank of Mexico is considering another interest rate hike at its next monetary policy meeting scheduled for Feb. 9, minutes of the central bank board's December meeting released on Thursday showed.
Banxico, as the Mexican central bank is known, raised its key rate by 50 basis points to a record 10.50% at the Dec. 15 meeting, tempering its monetary tightening pace amid a slowdown in inflation while suggesting it could hike rates at least once more.
The decision followed four consecutive 75-basis-point hikes and came after the U.S. Federal Reserve increased its key interest rate by 50 basis points after four consecutive hikes of its own of three-quarters of a percentage point.
"The board considers that it will still be necessary to raise the reference rate in its next monetary policy meeting," the minutes said. "Subsequently, it will assess if the reference rate needs to be further adjusted as well as the pace of adjustment based on the prevailing conditions."
(Reporting by Anthony Esposito and Isabel Woodford; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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