Monday, November 24, 2008

Mexican economy keeps stumbling

Mexico’s economy has not been immune to the troubles affecting other nations around the world.

Billions of dollars in remittances are sent south of the border though the amount has dropped over the past few months. The country’s middle class is shrinking while the income gap continues to widen. The country’s yearly growth has slowed to its lowest rate in five years and is expected to keep decreasing.

In the latest bit of bad news for Mexico’s economy, it was revealed earlier today that inflation has shot up:
Mexico's inflation rate jumped in early November to a seven-year high, raising pressure on the central bank to hold off on interest rate cuts despite a sharp slowdown in the economy…

Higher prices for food and energy drove the increase, though economists said a rise in costs for other types of goods should sound alarms that a recent slump in the peso currency was leading importers to raise prices.
Recently the media has hit on the trend of more Mexicans returning from the U.S. due to the faltering economy there. Will that trend continue despite Mexico’s troubles?

Image- La Plaza (Mexican auto factory)
Sources-
The Latin Americanist, Fox News, Guardian UK, AP

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