Mexico City, Feb 11 (IANS): Banxico, the central bank of Mexico, has raised its key interest rate for the sixth consecutive time citing greater and longer-than-expected inflationary pressures in the country.

Banxico said in a statement that its governing board decided by majority vote to raise the target for the overnight interbank interest rate by 50 basis points to 6 per cent, effective on Friday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Mexico's headline inflation, the raw inflation figure reported through the consumer price index, reached 7.07 per cent year-on-year in January, Banxico said.

The bank said it also raised its forecasts for the country's headline inflation at the end of this year to 4 per cent, and that at the end of 2023 to 3.1 per cent.

Banxico has a 3 per cent inflation target, but the figure has climbed to its highest level in two decades, largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the bank, world inflation has continued increasing due to pressures driven by bottlenecks in production and high levels of food and energy prices, among other factors.