Mexico's economy rebounds 19.7% in Q2

Mexico City, July 31 Mexico's economy rebounded 19.7 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2021, buoyed by good performance across all sectors, according to preliminary figures released by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

Seasonally adjusted figures showed Mexico's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.5 per cent in the second quarter compared to the previous, Xinhua news agency quoted Inegi as saying in a statement on Friday.

In the April-to-June period, industrial activity rose 28.2 per cent year on year, while the services sector grew 17.1 per cent. These are the two sectors with the largest impact on GDP, according to the Institute.

The agricultural sector grew 6.7 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, the autonomous statistics agency said.

In response to the figures, Mexico's BASE financial group said the data suggests the Mexican economy has recovered 92.5 per cent of what it lost since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of February 2020.

"Grupo Financiero BASE estimates that Mexico's GDP will show growth of 6.3 per cent this year," said the private institution.

"Although the estimate can be considered high, it is still a rebound effect following the drop in 2020, which has been largely driven by growth in the US," BASE said of Mexico's main trade partner.

Mexico's economy, the second-largest in Latin America after Brazil, plummeted 8.3 per cent in 2020, its worst contraction since the 1930s, due to the effects of the pandemic.