Mexico in 2020 suffers worst slump

MEXICO CITY:

Mexico’s economy last year suffered its biggest annual contraction since the 1930s, although it recovered better-than-expected from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic during the final quarter, preliminary data showed.

Gross domestic product in Latin America’s second-biggest economy tumbled by 8.5% last year in seasonally adjusted terms, according to the estimate issued by national statistics agency INEGI.

The fall was slightly shallower than the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll for an 8.8% decline. Still, the contraction was the sharpest since 1932 during the Great Depression, data published by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) show.

And the economy has recently faced fresh headwinds due to resurgence in Covid-19 cases. During the second half of 2020, the economy made up much of the ground lost to the pandemic.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2021.

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