Mexico’s economy contracts in 1st quarter
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) — Mexico’s economy shrank in the first quarter of 2019 from the previous three-month period, data showed on Friday, dealing a blow to the new government’s drive to convince investors it can boost growth in Latin America’s second-largest economy.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in December pledging to ramp up lackluster growth and job creation.
But the economy shrank 0.2 percent compared with the October-December period as services and industrial activity dipped, the first contraction since the second quarter of 2018, according to data from national statistics agency INEGI. The contraction was particularly sharp in March.
“March was a very bad month for economic activity, clocking a 0.6 percent contraction,” Mexican central bank board member Jonathan Heath said on Twitter, citing monthly economic activity data also published on Friday.
Goldman Sachs economist Alberto Ramos said strikes and fuel supply disruptions earlier in the year had contributed to the slump.
After the data was published, Mexico’s benchmark stock index fell more than 1 percent to a two-month low, the peso currency dipped into negative territory, and economic research consultancy Capital Economics cut its Mexican growth forecast to 1.8 percent for 2019.
“The weak Q1 GDP figure means the economy won’t, barring a major surprise, grow by the 2.5 percent that we had projected … The next few years will be underwhelming for Mexico’s economy,” said William Jackson, Chief Emerging Markets Economist at Capital Economics.
Lopez Obrador brushed aside concerns about the data at his daily morning press conference.
“Investment is growing, I said it yesterday, our currency is strong, it is appreciating more than other currencies around the globe and inflation is stable. And there will be growth, much more growth. So we’re going to wait,” said Lopez Obrador.
Mexico received some $10 billion in foreign direct investment in the first quarter, up 7 percent from the same quarter last year, and inflation was slightly lower than expected in the first half of May at 4.43 percent.
The peso has appreciated over 6 percent since Lopez Obrador took office.
Still, some of the president’s decisions have rattled investors, prompting concern among private sector analysts.
The International Monetary Fund on April 9 lowered Mexico’s 2019 growth outlook to 1.6 percent from 2.1 percent, citing shifts in perception about policy.
In a note, Goldman Sachs’ Ramos said high interest rates would weigh on consumer spending, adding that the investment outlook was lackluster, partly due to uncertainty over the ratification of a new trade deal with Mexico’s top export market the United States.
The U.S. economy expanded 3.2 percent in the first quarter in annual terms, but some economists believe that growth rate will be short lived, bringing more gloom to Mexico.
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