Mexico’s July Industrial Production Rose 4.9% From Year Ago

Mexico’s industrial production rose 4.9 percent in July from a year earlier, above expectations and the fastest pace since February, the national statistics institute, said today on its website.

Economists expected industrial production to rise 3.9 percent, according to the median forecast of 15 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Output grew 3.7 percent in June from a year earlier after rising by a 13-month high in February of 6.05 percent.

Growth in July was led by the construction industry that expanded 6.8 percent from the year earlier.

Mexico’s economic growth beat economist forecasts in the second quarter, expanding 0.9 percent from the first three months, an annualized rate of 3.5 percent, as exports increased 5.8 percent from a year earlier. The economy is being buoyed by an economic recovery in the U.S., the destination of 80 percent of the nation’s exports.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net.