Mexico raises benchmark interest rate half a point to 5.25%

Mexico's central bank has decided to raise its interbank interest rate by one-half percent to 5.25 percent, citing "a more complex world economic panorama, caused among other things by the U.S. elections."

Thursday's decision was the second time in as many months the Bank of Mexico has raised the rate.

In September, it raised the rate a half-point to 4.75 percent, seeking to shore up a weak peso.

The volatile peso has depreciated significantly against the U.S. dollar.

Some analysts had been expecting a larger increase, given uncertainty surrounding the U.S. presidential election of Donald Trump.

Trump has pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, deport millions of migrants and build a border wall.

The peso's interbank exchange rate weakened from 20.34 to $1 to 20.41.