Mexico’s economy likely shrank in the second quarter, with a stagnant service sector and a drop in industrial output contributing to the decline.
Mexico will report quarterly gross domestic product data on Monday, and according to the median responses of five economists polled by Reuters, seasonally adjusted GDP likely contracted by 0.3% from the first quarter. The economy grew 0.8% in the first quarter.
Compared with the second quarter of 2015, the economists saw GDP expanding 2.40%. Growth was 2.6% in the first quarter versus the year-ago period.
According to preliminary data released by national statistics agency at the end of last month, seasonally adjusted GDP contracted by about 0.3% from the prior quarter.
According to INEGI’s initial estimates, the industrial sector contracted by 1.7% from the January-March period, which, if confirmed, would be its worst showing since the first quarter of 2009.
Weak demand in the United States for Mexican-made goods has weighed on Latin America’s second biggest economy.
Mexico’s services sector posted flat growth while agricultural output dipped 0.1%, the data showed.
Fair trade advocates released a new report which finds the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement threatens the Texas-Mexico border economy.
Since the implementation of NAFTA in the mid-1990s, much of Texas’ economy has transitioned from being a hub of production into a center for customs brokerage, logistics, distribution, transportation, accounting and other services that support production operations in Mexico. According to the report, these Texan jobs, as well as Mexican maquiladora jobs, are both threatened by the TPP.
“The community is leading the charge against the TPP because the majority of border people will be negatively affected by it,” said Lorena Andrade, director of La Mujer Obrera.
