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XINHUA

Private-sector analysts are now predicting that Mexico’s economy will grow 4.8 percent in 2021, up from the 4.5 percent previously projected, a survey by the Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) announced Monday, May 3.

For 2022, analysts maintained their forecast for Mexican gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 2.7 percent, according to the poll of 38 leading financial groups conducted from April 22 to 29.

Regarding inflation, analysts raised their expectations that it will reach 4.56 percent, up from 4.14 percent. by the end of this year, and 3.6 percent by the end of 2022.

The analysts also projected an exchange rate of 20.45 Mexican pesos per U.S. dollar at the end of 2021, slightly lower than the 20.5 percent estimated in March’s survey.

The Mexican economy, the second-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.

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