Mexico's interest rates over four decades: from triple digits to about 6%
The 28-day Cetes yield averaged 96.25% in 1987, by our arithmetic from Banxico's weekly auctions, and reached 159.21% in Jan 1988, the high of its record. It fell below 10% only in 2002, bottomed at a 2.98% average in 2015 and averaged 6.48% in 2026 through 5 Nov.
Banxico cut its target rate to 6.25% on 5 Nov 2026, effective 6 Nov, in a 3-2 vote. Our sister site covers the decision; here, it's set against four decades of what Mexico's government has paid to borrow for 28 days.
The years of triple digits
Banxico's record of the 28-day Cetes, the Treasury bills the government sells at a weekly auction, starts in Sep 1982. In 1987 the yield averaged 96.25% across the year's auctions, by our arithmetic, and on 7 Jan 1988 it reached 159.21%, the highest in Banxico's record, which has no data for 1984. Prices were rising even faster: Wikipedia's account of the Bank of Mexico puts 1987 inflation at 159%. As inflation came down, so did the yield, from an average of 44.96% in 1989 to 14.04% in 1994.
1995 and the long way down
The peso crisis that began in Dec 1994 sent the yield to 82.65% on 23 Mar 1995, and the 1995 average was 48.66%. The yield climbed again in 1998, to an average of 24.62%, and stayed above 20% in 1999. It took until 2002 for the annual average to fall below 10%, to 7.08%. Along the way, the Bank of Mexico became autonomous in Apr 1994 and adopted inflation targeting in 2000, according to Wikipedia; its target today is 3%, within a range of 2% to 4%.
← Slide the chart to see the earlier years
Percent a year, average of the weekly auctions: 1983 58.26; 1987 96.25; 1990 34.82; 1995 48.66; 2000 15.27; 2002 7.08; 2008 7.68; 2015 2.98; 2020 5.32; 2023 11.10; 2026 6.48 (2026 to 5 Nov). Banxico, series SF43936; averages are ours.
Low, high and back to the middle
Since 2008, Banxico has set a target for the overnight interbank rate, and the Cetes yield has moved with it. The 2008 crisis pushed it lower, from an average of 7.68% that year to 4.40% in 2010, and the lowest annual average in the record came in 2015, at 2.98%. The last tightening took it to an average of 11.10% in 2023. Through 5 Nov, the 2026 average is 6.48%, by our arithmetic, and the last auction before the cut took effect paid 6.50%.
Against that record, 6.25% is low by the standard of every year before 2002 and in the middle since then: above the annual averages of 2009 to 2016, below those of 2022 to 2025, by our comparison. A rate that once moved by tens of points in a year now moves by quarters of a point, and the board now splits over 25 basis points.
Sources
- Banco de México, SIE, 28-day Cetes yield, weekly auctions (series SF43936, table CF107), Sep 1982 through 5 Nov 2026; annual averages by us, 2026-11-06. Link
- Banco de México, monetary policy announcement, 5 Nov 2026, 2026-11-05. Link
- Wikipedia, Banco de México (context: autonomy 1994, inflation targeting 2000, 1987 inflation), 2026-11-06. Link
- Wikipedia, Bank of Mexico (context), 2026-11-06. Link
The same release, as this week's numbers, on our sister site: rutanamex.com/blog/banxico-rate-cut-november-2026.
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