Mexico’s central bank could make larger cuts to the benchmark interest rate at the year’s first monetary policy meetings due to slowing inflation, the board said in a report.

Japan’s biggest banks are nearing a key valuation level for the first time in almost a decade as investors bet that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates on Friday and accelerate its normalisation of monetary policy.

The central bank reduced its one-week repo rate to 45% from 47.5% as a cycle of higher borrowing costs bore fruit in cooler price rises.

The Bank of Japan has raised short-term interest rates by a quarter point, the highest in 17 years, signalling efforts to normalise monetary policy in response to persistent inflation and increasing wages.

Japan's central bank has increased the cost of borrowing to its highest level in 17 years, after consumer price rises accelerated last year. The move by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% comes just hours after the latest economic data showed prices rose last month at the fastest pace in 16 months.

Tokyo, Jan 24 (AP) The Bank of Japan raised its key interest rate to about 0.5% from 0.25% Friday, noting that inflation is holding at a desirable target level. The decision by the central bank came at the end of a two-day policy board meeting in Tokyo.