By Brendan O'Boyle and Isabel Woodford

MEXICO CITY Mexico's central bank on Wednesday signaled it would hold the country's benchmark interest rate at its current all-time high for an extended period of time in order to bring inflation down to the bank's target range.

"To achieve orderly and sustained convergence of headline inflation to the 3% target, the bank's governing board considers that it will be necessary to maintain the benchmark rate at its current level for a prolonged period," the Bank of Mexico said in its quarterly economic report.

The central bank's governing board unanimously held the benchmark interest rate steady at 11.25% on May 18, breaking a nearly two-year rate-hike cycle.

In its quarterly report, the bank also raised its economic growth forecast for 2023 to 2.3%, an upward revision from 1.6% in its March report.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Boyle and Isabel Woodford; Editing by Anthony Esposito)