MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexico’s core and headline inflation rates are very high and it will take a long time to bring them down, Gerardo Esquivel, a member of the Mexican central bank board, said in a podcast that Banorte published on Wednesday.

Esquivel is the Bank of Mexico’s least dovish board member. Esquivel said the Bank of Mexico expects inflation to reach a peak during the second quarter of 2019. However, it will only begin to convergence towards its 3% goal towards the first three month of 2024.

He said that it would be slow and long. It was slower than we wanted.

One member of the board suggested that Mexico’s interest rates could rise to 2023, a bit more than it is now.

However, he noted that while the Bank of Mexico has not reduced interest rates to near zero and began raising them ahead of the rest of the central banks, this could leave it with more leeway.

Esquivel stated that it could be possible that Esquivel has more room to avoid adopting a restrictive monetary policy like some other countries.

According to the central banker, inflationary pressures had been rising since COVID-19’s pandemic began a month earlier. They have increased following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.