Summit Notebook

                                          But we still have the bumper cars…
   Mexico’s central bank Gov. Guillermo Ortiz thinks the world economic crisis is probably past the worst but warned growth in the third quarter could contract on an annual basis.
    Speaking at the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit, Ortiz — who also fronts the Bank for International Settlements — said there is a growing sensation that the crisis may have bottomed. Inflation in Mexico is likely to decline, helped by lower demand and the peso stopping its free fall against the dollar. 
 Two types of market interventions since October, where the government sold dollars to ease pressure on the exchange rate, have managed to pull back the peso to levels of just above 13 per greenback, a gain of about 19 percent from its March all-time low.
    Ortiz also said the central bank is touching base with key market players to evaluate if a second auction of short-term dollar credits, aimed at triggering lending to companies once again, is needed.