April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon nominated Manuel Sanchez Gonzalez, an executive at BBVA Bancomer SA, as new central bank deputy governor, a move that may make the bank more favorable to reducing the benchmark interest rate.

Sanchez was director of corporate projects at Bancomer, Mexico’s largest lender, and had been at the bank since 1993. If the nomination is ratified by the Senate, Sanchez will replace Everardo Elizondo, whose term expired in December.

Columns written by Sanchez in Reforma newspaper and research notes he wrote at Bancomer suggest he’s more likely than Elizondo to advocate interest-rate cuts if he joins the central bank’s five-member board, said Gabriel Casillas, an economist at UBS AG in Mexico City. Elizondo was more inclined to argue for and support higher interest rates, Casillas said.

“When they say ‘Let’s cut,’ there will be one less person that will oppose it,” Casillas said.

Mexico’s central bank is led by Governor Guillermo Ortiz and has four deputy governor positions. The other three deputy governors are Guillermo Guemez, Roberto Del Cueto and Jose Sidaoui. Sanchez’s appointment was announced today in the Senate’s gazette.

“The appointment of Manuel Sanchez to the board of Banxico is positive,” Benito Berber, an economist at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets in Greenwich, Connecticut, said in an e-mailed report. “Technically he is very competent and he could greatly influence the monetary policy debate on the board in addition to improving the communication with the market.”

University of Chicago

Sanchez was previously director of economic studies at Bancomer, the bank’s press office said. Prior to joining the bank, he was an economist for Mexican companies Vitro SAB and Alfa SAB. He has a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago.

Sanchez wrote in a column published yesterday in Reforma that recent interest rate cuts by central banks around the world don’t interfere with their goal of keeping consumer prices stable.

“Countercyclical monetary policy has a justification,” Sanchez wrote. “Among the possible countercyclical tools, monetary policy is the most effective and efficient because it can be applied immediately.”

Calderon’s nomination of someone with experience in the corporate world signals that the government may be focused on expanding businesses’ access to credit, Casillas said.

“As corporate director, he was very involved in decisions about giving credit,” Casillas said about Sanchez’s position at Bancomer.

The central bank has reduced the key lending rate to 6 percent from 8.25 percent in January to head off a deeper recession. This month, the bank cut borrowing costs 0.75 percentage point, which was more than economists forecast.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jens Erik Gould in Mexico City at jgould9@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 23, 2009 14:40 EDT