Guatemala Holds Interest Rate at 5%

The central bank of Guatemala unanimously kept its key interest rate at 5% for the fifth consecutive meeting in September 2023, after delivering a total of 325bps rate increases since April 2022.

Policymakers said the decision remains to align inflation to the central bank's target range of 4% ± 1% for 2023-2024 without hampering growth.

Inflation eased for the sixth straight month to 4.47% in August 2023 from 4.53% in the previous month after hitting 9.2% in February.

Meanwhile, the economy is expected to grow between 2.5 to 4.5% this year and next year.

The Monetary Board reaffirms its commitment to take necessary measures to keep inflation levels within the target range.