Mexico in 2020 suffers worst slump since Great Depression

[January 29, 2021]  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's economy last year suffered its biggest annual contraction since the 1930s due to the pandemic, though it recovered stronger than expected in the final quarter, preliminary official data showed on Friday.

Workers are seen in a building undergoing construction at Mexico City, Mexico January 30, 2020. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

Gross domestic product (GDP) in Latin America's second-biggest economy shrank by 8.5% last year in seasonally-adjusted terms, according to the preliminary estimate published by national statistics agency INEGI.

The slump was the worst since 1932 during the Great Depression, according to data published by the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

The figure compared with the consensus forecast of a Reuters poll this week for a contraction of 8.8%.

During the final three months of 2020, GDP grew by 3.1% from the previous quarter in adjusted terms, beating the 2.8% seen in a Reuters poll.

Compared with the same quarter in 2019, the economy shrank 4.5% in unadjusted terms in the October-December period, INEGI said.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; additional reporting by Abraham Gonzalez; editing by Jason Neely)

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