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Adjusted for seasonal swings, Latin America's no. 2 economy
contracted by 0.1% in 2019 after growth of just over 2% the
previous year, according to a preliminary estimate published by
national statistics office INEGI.
Gross domestic product (GDP) was unchanged during the fourth
quarter compared to the previous three months, INEGI said.
That was slightly better than the consensus forecast in a
Reuters poll for a contraction of 0.1%.
Mexico's economy struggled during the first year in office of
Lopez Obrador, a leftist who promised to root out corruption and
chronic inequality when he took office in December 2018.
Foreign investment has held firm in Mexico under his government,
but domestic businesses have been more wary.
Gross fixed capital investment fell by 5.2% on the year during
the first ten months of 2019, according to figures published by
INEGI earlier this month.
Lopez Obrador's decision to cancel a partly built, $13 billion
new airport for Mexico City, and his retreat from the prior
government's liberalization of the oil and gas industry, have
stirred concern about his economic stewardship.
The president argues the airport project was tainted by
corruption, but business leaders were incensed by the decision.
The economy stagnated in the July-September period
quarter-on-quarter and shrank by a tenth of a percentage point
in each of the three prior quarters, the latest data show.
(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Miguel Gutierrez, Chizu
Nomiyama and John Stonestreet)
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