Mexico Inflation 23.6% in 1st Quarter

Inflation in Mexico hit 23.6% for the first three months of 1987, the central Bank of Mexico announced.

Inflation was 19% in the first quarter of 1986, a year that ended with a record rate of 105.7%, the bank said. The inflation rate for the 12 months ending March 31 amounts to 114% when projected for the year.

March inflation was 6.6%, compared to 4.4% in March, 1986, the bank said in its Friday report.

In recent weeks, the inflation rate has prompted the government to approve a 20% emergency pay raise for minimum-wage workers.

Treasury Secretary Gustavo Petricioli predicted last week that inflation for 1987 would not exceed 85%. But some private analysts say a more realistic expectation is about 120%.

Government planners said at the start of 1986 that they did not expect inflation to surpass the 1985 level of 63.7%. But 1986 ended with the highest inflation since the 98.8% reached in 1982, when Mexico plunged into an economic crisis over its inability to pay its foreign debt.