Banxico Governor Nominee Defends Her Record in Senate Grilling
(Bloomberg) -- Banxico's nominee Victoria Rodriguez Ceja defended her track-record and experience to lead the Mexican central bank after opposition senators questioned her competence for the job.
“I believe I meet the required experience in monetary policy,” Rodriguez Ceja said in a confirmation hearing at Mexico's Senate Wednesday, listing her 20 years working in federal and city budget offices as examples of her resume. “It's not a subject that's alien to me.”
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador last month stunned Banxico watchers by withdrawing his nomination of former Finance Minister Arturo Herrera and replacing him with Rodriguez, a little-known public spending chief with a long career in government finance jobs, but little experience or academic background in monetary policy.
The law requires board members of Banxico, as the central bank is known, to have “recognized competence in the monetary subject” to be confirmed in the position.
After the three-hour hearing in which Rodriguez often responded to questions by reading prepared remarks, senators adjourned the session before a confirmation vote scheduled for Thursday. While Rodriguez's appointment isn't at risk because the government party and its allies control the chamber, the lively questioning from some senators reflected the controversy around her nomination for the prestigious central bank job.
Senator Gustavo Madero, from the opposition PAN party, proposed that Rodriguez be accepted as a board member but leaving the governor position to be picked by the president among the other members of the body ruling Banxico, who already have experience in the job.
Economists and analysts worried aloud last week that by helming the bank with a close ally, Lopez Obrador might be also taking a grab at the independence of one of the few Mexican institutions that has remained isolated from his controlling political clout. Lopez Obrador responded by saying twice that he won't meddle with the bank's independence. Instead, he argued that he wanted to promote a woman who has been central to carrying out his sweeping austerity.
Read More: AMLO Throws Mexican Peso Caution to Wind with Banxico U-Turn
The president had already raised eyebrows earlier this year by saying he wanted someone focused on the “moral economy” to run Banxico, which has been seen as a bulwark of stability for Mexican markets for three decades.
Read More: Banxico Sees Faster Growth, Above-Target Inflation in 2022
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