Treasury: Mexican economy to contract in 2020
Posted Apr 2, 2020 02:59:15 PM.
Last Updated Apr 2, 2020 03:00:25 PM.
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Treasury has lowered its growth projections for the economy in the face of the spreading COVID-19 pandemic and now predicts the economy will contract as much as 3.9% this yea, or continue with no growth in the best-case scenario.
Mexico was already in a technical recession. “In a very short period the global economic panorama has deteriorated rapidly and significantly,” the treasury said in its forecast to Mexico’s lower legislative chamber Wednesday.
It said the high level of macroeconomic uncertainty provoked by the pandemic makes it difficult to predict economic growth.
Gabriela Siller, an analyst with Banco Base, said Thursday that the Treasury forecast appeared to be optimistic. She noted that the latest survey published by Mexico’s central bank anticipated an average contraction of 3.99%.
Mexico has also been hit hard by the plunging price of oil amid its attempt to rescue its debt-plagued state-owned oil company Pemex.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador plans to lay out the government’s economic recovery plan Sunday.
The Associated Press
