By Anthony Harrup 

MEXICO CITY -- The Bank of Mexico said Wednesday that it transferred 321.7 billion pesos ($17.1 billion) to the federal government in excess funds from its operations in 2016, which resulted largely from the depreciation of the Mexican peso.

Any money that the Bank of Mexico has left over from its operations is by law transferred to the treasury as extraordinary revenue, since the central bank is a nonprofit institution.

The bank makes money on foreign reserves when the national currency depreciates. The peso fell around 17% against the U.S. dollar last year, while Mexico's foreign reserves ended the year at $176.5 billion. Reserves are currently at $175 billion.

The central bank applies some of the money it makes to its capital reserves and to protect against the opposite impact from any appreciation of the peso.

The amount is above the 239 billion pesos that the central bank transferred to the federal government in 2016, most of which was used by the government to buy back debt and reduce planned public-sector borrowing.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 29, 2017 14:12 ET (18:12 GMT)