Mexico's central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Thursday after more than a year of cuts, as rising inflation limited its scope to stimulate the pandemic-hit economy. The Bank of Mexico held the inter-bank rate at 4.25 percent, it said in a statement, following 11 straight reductions stretching back to August 2019 to boost Latin America's second-largest economy. It said the decision was aimed at guiding inflation back towards its target of around three percent, after hitting 4.09 percent in October. Although economic activity rebounded in the third quarter of the year, it "remains below pre-pandemic levels in an environment of uncertainty and downside risks," the central bank said. The decision was not unanimous -- one of the five members of the governing board voted to lower the interest rate to 4.0 percent, it said. Mexico's gross domestic product (GDP) rebounded 12.0 percent in the July-September period from the previous quarter after it relaxed pandemic-control restrictions, according to a preliminary estimate. The economy suffered a record 18.7 percent plunge in the second quarter from a year earlier after the country was semi-paralyzed by lockdown measures. Mexico has registered more than 96,000 coronavirus deaths -- one of the world's highest tolls. jla-dr/mjs