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XINHUA

Private analysts estimated the Mexico’s economy will grow by as much as 4.5 percent in 2021, up from the 3.67 percent previously projected, a survey by the Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) showed on Monday, April 5.

For 2022, analysts slightly raised the forecast for Mexican gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 2.7 percent from 2.6 percent, according to the survey conducted between March 25 and 29.

Regarding inflation, analysts raised their expectations to 4.14 percent from 3.9 percent by the end of this year, while estimating inflation at 3.6 percent by the end of 2022, according to the survey.

Experts also projected an exchange rate of 20.5 Mexican pesos per U.S. dollar at the end of the year, slightly higher than the 20.3 pesos estimated in February’s survey.

The Mexican economy, the secon-largest in Latin America after Brazil, contracted 8.2 percent in 2020, its worst performance since the 1930s, due to the effects of the covid-19 pandemic.

It also contracted slightly in 2019, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s first year in office.

On March 31, Mexico’s Finance Secretariat raised the growth forecast for the local economy in 2021 to 5.3 percent, while projecting a stronger domestic market as vaccination against covid-19 progresses.

Notwithstanding, Mexico is lagging behind many other countries in vaccinating its population, having only inoculated about 6 million of its 135 million citizens against the disease so far.

…April 6, 2021