According to preliminary estimates from Mexico’s national statistics agency INEGI, the country’s economy experienced unexpected growth in the first quarter of the year, despite predictions of a slowdown. The economy expanded by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter, slightly higher than the 0.0% that economists had forecasted.
However, on a yearly basis, Mexico’s economy grew by just 1.6%, which was below the expected growth rate of 2.1%. This was a significant slowdown from the previous quarter’s growth of 2.5%, indicating that challenges such as tighter financial conditions and difficult external factors have affected the country’s economic performance.
Despite this slowdown, Mexico has still managed to expand its economy for ten consecutive quarters. However, Chief Latin America Economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, Andres Abadia, noted that while this is still an impressive achievement, it is clear that growth momentum has become sluggish compared to recent trends. He mentioned that various factors such as reduced financial conditions and external difficulties have contributed to this weaker performance in Q1.
Overall, while Mexico’s economy continued to grow in Q1, it is clear that there are challenges ahead that need to be addressed in order to maintain this positive trend moving forward.
