General: Despite last year's slower than expected growth rate, the economy remains in a stable-enough condition. Core inflation is narrowly within the target range of the Central Bank, and the benchmark interest rate was left unchanged at 7.5% in January. A deep concern for 2008 is the potentially decelerating economy in the US, where 80% of Mexico's exports go.
GDP: +3.7% in Q3 (+5.9% over Q2). Banco de Mexico put the preliminary growth rate for 2007 at 3.2%, 3.3% down from 4.8% last year.
Consumer Prices: +3.8% in December
Industrial Production: +0.8% in November
Unemployment: 3.5% in November
Trade Balance: - $11.2 billion as of December for the past twelve months
Steel Production: A total of 17.2 million metric tons were produced in 2007, or 5.3% ahead of last year (#15 in the world).
Automotive Production: 131,929 units were produced in December or 3.2% less than last year. For the year, 2,095,245 units were produced, or 2.4% ahead of last year.
Currency: Peso 11.0 to US$1 as of January 23 (unchanged from last year)
Special Focus: Crude oil production fell 5.3% in 2007 to an average of 3.082 million barrels per day (bpd). Oil exports last year fell 6.0% to 1.686 million bpd, although the average export price rose 16.3% to $61.66 per barrel. Total foreign crude oil sales reached a record $37.9 billion in 2007.
GDP: +2.9% in Q3 (+2.9% over Q2)
Consumer Prices: +2.4% in December. The core inflation rate (excluding food and energy prices) came in at a very moderate 1.5% which might encourage Bank of Canada to lower interest rates.
Industrial Production: +0.8% in October
Unemployment: 5.9% in December
Trade Balance: +$48.7 billion as of November for the past twelve months
Automotive Production: 134,857 units were produced in December, or 27.6%(!) less than last year. For the year, 2,578,238 units were produced, a mere 0.3% ahead of 2006.
Steel Production: 16.4 million metric tons were produced in 2007, or 5.7% more than in 2006 (#16 in the world).
Currency: C$1.03 to US$1 as of January 23 (C$1.18 to US$1 a year ago)