López Obrador suggested last month that he could replace Esquivel and said that he would consider alternative roles for him. But a week later he said that he did not rule out reappointing him and that Finance Secretary Rogelio Ramírez de la O was evaluating options to fill the seat on Banxico’s five-member board.
If Ramírez de la O chooses Esquivel, the president will not veto him, said a person close to López Obrador.
The press offices of López Obrador and Ramírez de la O did not respond to a request for comment. Esquivel declined to comment on the matter, saying that he did not have any information on the subject. Banxico’s press office also declined to comment.
Esquivel has consistently been the softest-spoken member of the board, voting last month to slow the pace of the bank’s rate hikes, while the other four decided to tie with the US Federal Reserve.
Most Banxico watchers expected Esquivel to leave the bank this year after the president said he could be appointed to a government post following his loss to Ilan Goldfajn in the election to head the Inter-American Development Bank.
But Esquivel has said he will not accept any further appointments from the president, meaning López Obrador would either have to put him out of a job or keep him in office for another eight-year term.
López Obrador reportedly began to grow impatient with Esquivel in May of last year when he wrote a thread on Twitter explaining why the bank did not need to send its surplus currency to the government, said one of the people consulted.
Of the five board members, however, the views of Esquivel, who is a poverty expert, are the closest to those of the president, as he argues against raising rates too quickly for fear of hurting Mexico’s economic recovery. said the source.
