After a decade of slow growth, averaging 1.3% per year, Mexico’s agriculture sector made a comeback in 2014, outperforming the wider economy and highlighting the sector’s counter-cyclical nature. Buoyed by favourable climatic conditions, the sector ended 2014 posting growth of 2.8%, with total production reaching a value of $53.3bn, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.…
Two straight years of record growth in Mexico’s tourism sector have solidified its importance as a motor for economic growth. Tourism contributes over 8.7% to Mexico’s GDP, employs 3.6m people directly and is the fourth most important source of foreign currency. The sector exceeded growth expectations for 2014, registering a record number of international tourist arrivals, at nearly 29.3m, and…
With a more robust government strategy to support research initiatives and a private sector attuned to the benefits of investing in new product development, innovation is slowly becoming instrumental to Mexico’s economic growth. Since taking office in December 2012, the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto has taken steps to improve the environment for research and innovation in the country.…
As the recent constitutional reforms start to have an impact on the Mexican economy, construction activity is poised to grow. Total investment in the construction sector reached $148bn in 2014, according to the Mexican Chamber of Construction, of which 75% was accounted for by private investment. Though construction continues to be a volatile activity, the sector remains a key component of the Mexican…
A significant component of the Mexican economy, the transport sector accounted for 6.4% of the country’s GDP and 5.3% of national employment in 2014, according to the Mexican Chamber for the Construction Industry. The country’s significant expansion of manufacturing in recent years is both benefitting the transport sector and placing it under increased pressure. Against this background, the current…
With the initial signs of effective reform now reaching the market, Mexico’s telecommunications and IT sector is seeing the competitive progress that had eluded it for several years. Although long-time dominant player América Móvil remains the undisputed industry leader, the asymmetric laws introduced by the government are slowly opening the market to more effective competition. This is galvanising…
Since the early years of the maquiladora concept, a cross-border manufacturing government programme, the Mexican manufacturing sector has evolved significantly. Today, the well-established and globalised Mexican industrial sector is a much more specialised and nuanced market, with a stronger regulatory framework. In 2014 the sector saw its GDP increase by 4.22%, according to the National Council of…
With more than 6% of GDP coming from oil and gas, and 1.8% from the utilities sector, energy is one of the most important components of the Mexican economy. The country’s oil exports have made up a large part of the public budget for several decades. Nonetheless, the decline in production of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the state-owned oil company, from a peak of roughly 3.4m barrels per day (bpd)…
Although the pace of expansion has moderated in the past two years, in line with a sluggish economy, Mexico’s insurance industry has been experiencing strong growth. The number of active companies in the sector reached 105 by the end of 2014, up significantly from 70 in 2000. Moreover, total premium income in 2014 reached $24.47bn, or 2.1% of GDP, according to the industry’s main regulatory body,…
Mexico’s stock exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, BMV) was heavily influenced by global trends during the course of 2014, marked by a high degree of volatility, geopolitical worries, concerns over future interest rate movements, and a somewhat mixed attitude to risk-taking. In Mexico, enthusiasm over the structural reforms was tempered in the fourth quarter of 2014 by worries over the impact of…
