Mexico’s central bank governor, Agustín Carstens, will stand down in July, leaving his post amid rising doubts about the direction of Latin America’s No 2 economy following the election of Donald Trump as US president.  The central bank on Thursday announced the impending departure of the 58-year-old Carstens, a former Mexican finance minister who has been the governor of the central bank since 2010 and is highly respected by international investors.  He will leave to take the top job at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in October for a five-year term, the Basel-based BIS said in a statement. Carstens’ term at the helm of the Mexican central bank had been due to conclude at the end of 2021.  The peso, which has been battered by fears surrounding the Trump presidency, weakened more than 1% on the news that Carstens was leaving.  It was not immediately clear who would take Carstens’ place, though Mexico’s finance minister, José Antonio Meade, said there would be an orderly transition.  “It was shocking,” Ernesto Revilla, an economist at Banamex, said of Carstens’ departure. “There were rumors of this, but no one was expecting it to happen so soon, especially with the new Trump scenario.”  “Agustin has been a pillar of economic policy in Mexico,” Revilla noted.  The peso suffered on Thursday because “there is no clear successor at the central bank ... There is no one on the top of peoples’ minds of who could take his place”, he added.  Among potential replacements mentioned by economists were Alejandro Werner, a former deputy finance minister who holds the top post for the Western Hemisphere at the International Monetary Fund, as well as current deputy central bank governor Manuel Ramos Francia, who is less well known in global financial circles.  Carstens had warned that Trump’s election could hit Mexico like a hurricane.  However following Trump’s surprise victory, he suggested the next US government’s impact could be less severe.  Most members of the central bank’s board are concerned that uncertainty about new economic policies under Trump could further hammer the peso, according to minutes from the central bank’s last meeting released earlier on Thursday.  “Going forward, the majority agreed it’s possible that the ... recovery won’t be sustainable due to the aforementioned uncertainty surrounding the economic policies of the new administration of the US government,” the minutes said.  Trump threatened to rip up a free trade deal with Mexico during the campaign and any such move could hit Mexico’s economy, which sends about 80% of its exports to the United States.  Policymakers voted 5-to-0 to raise the bank’s key rate by 50 basis points to 5.25%, its highest since 2009, in their 17 November announcement, the minutes showed.
Respected official, 58, leaves amid fears over effects of Trump presidency; replacement unclear but finance minister says transition will be orderly