Mexico’s economic activity grows 2% in July: Inegi

Mexico City., The Mexican economy recorded three months of growth in July and in its annual comparison achieved its best increase in the last four months, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

Inegi estimated that the global indicator of economic activity (IGAE), a monthly indicator of the national gross domestic product (GDP), grew 0.6 percent in July compared to June, when it reported a monthly advance of 0.2 percent.

Primary activities (agriculture, livestock and fishing) rose 11.6 percent monthly in July, while the tertiary sector (services and trade) grew 0.4 percent monthly, the third consecutive growth. Meanwhile, industry (the secondary sector) rose 0.2 percent, after 0.4 percent growth in July.

In its annual measurement, and with seasonally adjusted figures, the IGAE showed a growth of 2 percent in July, which showed an acceleration of 1.3 percent annually in June.

According to data from Inegi, the primary sector grew 12.5 percent in July compared to the same month in 2023; services grew 2.2 percent annually and industry 0.6 percent in the seventh month of the year compared to the same month last year. All three sectors improved their growth rate in their annual measurement.

It is worth remembering that the IGAE data for June only confirmed what was already known about growth during the second quarter of the year: the stagnation of local growth and weakness in the last part of the quarter. This explains why the revisions to growth in 2024 have been modest; however, the forecasts for 2025 and 2026 have been revised downwards and are placed at around 2 percent.

However, the IGAE data were better than the projections of the timely indicator, which estimated a monthly advance of 0.1 percent in July and 1.1 percent annually. Thus, it could have a better performance, according to analysts, in the third quarter.

Inegi estimated that the Mexican economy reported a growth of 2.1 percent between January and July 2024, supported by the services sector, which reached an annual increase of 2.6 percent in the first seven months of the year; while the industry advanced 1.5 percent and the agricultural sector contracted 0.6 percent.