MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s finance ministry is likely to revise up its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for 2021 as the public gets vaccinated against COVID-19, Deputy Finance Minister Gabriel Yorio was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
In an interview with newspaper El Financiero, Yorio said that depending on how promptly vaccines reach the country, the government hoped 80 million Mexicans would be inoculated by the end of July, which would “change the reality” for the economy.
“We’re going to revise our growth figures, but I could tell you in advance that it’s going to be in a range of between 5 and 5.5 percent of GDP,” Yorio was quoted as saying.
As of January, the Mexican finance ministry was forecasting growth of 4.6% this year. Earlier this month, the central bank revised up its main 2021 growth forecast to 4.8%.
Mexico’s economy suffered its biggest slump since the 1930s last year, shrinking by 8.5% in seasonally-adjusted terms.
(Reporting by Raul Cortes; Editing by Paul Simao)
