Economic activity contracted 0.16% in January; Has two months of falls

  Economic activity in Mexico showed a contraction of 0.16% last January,its second consecutive monthly drop, according to information released bythe National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).The Global Indicator of Economic Activity (IGAE), which measures theevolution of Mexico's economic activity on a monthly basis and serves asan approximation of the behavior of GDP, has two falls in a row, the firstwas in December, when it fell 1.08 percent.

  With the decline of 0.16% in January of this year, the IGAE registered anannual growth rate of 0.04%, presenting a slight improvement comparedto the 0.69% contraction it had in December.

  In its annual comparison, the Mexican economy would not have shownany type of variation.

  With the monthly drop in the Global Indicator of Economic Activity of0.16% in January, the probability that Mexico's GDP will show a contractionduring the first quarter rises, according to analysts.

Secondary sector falls  

  Within the IGAE, it is observed that the contraction was due to the poorperformance of secondary activities, which presented a monthly fall of0.38%, due to the fact that mining contracted 1.75%, basic services fell0.79% and manufacturing industries fell 0.31%, while construction grew0.14%.In contrast, primary activities registered a growth of 3.13%, while tertiaryactivities did not register any change.

  However, in the breakdown of tertiary activities, the growth of retail trade(1.36%), cultural and sports leisure services (2.93%) and professional,scientific and technical services (3.79%), and the contractions of wholesaletrade (-1.51%), transport, post and storage (-0.53%) and temporaryaccommodation and food and beverage preparation services (-0.73%)stand out.