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 Business News | May 2008 
Mexico Says Economy Faring Well Despite US Downturn
 Jason Lange & Luis Rojas Mena - Reuters
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Mexico City – Mexico's economy has yet to feel the pinch from a steep U.S. slowdown, the government said Friday, keeping its 2008 growth forecast at 2.8 percent.
The U.S. downturn will hurt Mexico's economy in the second quarter but it will then start improving after mid-year, said Miguel Messmacher, the finance ministry's chief economist.
“We have yet to see a significant effect,” he told reporters.
Hit by trouble in the mortgage and housing sectors, the economy in the United States, Mexico's main trading partner, expanded at a meager 0.6 percent rate in the first quarter. Many experts expect it to stumble into recession.
But Mexico's economy surged 5.8 percent in February compared with the same month a year earlier, with strong growth in services and industry, the government said this week.
The government has said economic growth in the January to March period was likely 3 percent.
Economists see Mexico weathering the U.S. slump as expanding credit allows consumers to spend more on products and services such as refrigerators and plane tickets and as oil revenue remains high.
Mexico's government has said it expects the economy to grow about 2.8 percent this year, down from 3.3 percent last year.
(Editing by Dan Grebler) |
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