Mexico City, Feb 19 (IANS/EFE) Finance officials raised Mexico’s growth forecast for 2010 from 3 percent to 3.9 percent following the release of new figures suggesting an economic recovery is in progress.
The Finance Secretariat said in a brief statement Wednesday that the change in the gross domestic product forecast incorporated the most recent data about the overall evolution of the Mexican economy.

It pointed to a “significant recovery” in non-petroleum exports, automotive production, manufacturing, commerce and transportation and said that higher sales at the main auto-service centres and department stores and increased consumer-goods imports are a sign of improved domestic demand.

The secretariat also said the global economic recovery and an increase in formal employment in Mexico beginning in July 2009 indicate the uptick in foreign and domestic demand will continue in 2010.

It said the new forecast is in line with projections by private-sector economists and international organisations, noting that the consensus is that the Mexican economy “will perform better than previously anticipated”.

The finance officials said, however, that further progress must be made in implementing structural reforms “to build a more competitive economy and achieve higher levels of growth and job creation that are sustainable in the mid-term”.

–IANS/EFE

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