Mexico’s February Retail Sales Fall Most Since 1996
Mexican retail sales had their biggest decline in almost 13 years in February as job losses, lower remittances and a shrinking economy sapped consumer activity.
Retail sales fell 8.6 percent in February from the same month a year earlier, the most since March 1996, the country’s statistics agency said today. Economists had forecast a 5.3 percent drop, according to the median estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Consumer activity will continue to shrink in the second quarter and will moderate around June, especially because of greater unemployment, said Ricardo Aguilar, an economist with the Mexico City-based Invex Casa de Bolsa SA.
“This confirms what we’ve seen, that the strongest declines will be in the first half of the year,” Aguilar said in a phone interview no teletrack payday loan. “Unemployment has risen and that affects consumption.”
Mexico’s central bank this month noted a “strong contraction” in growth and employment in the past two quarters and said gross domestic product will shrink more than previously forecast in 2009. The bank lowered the benchmark interest rate to 6 percent this month in a bid to jumpstart the economy.
The peso declined 1.2 percent to 13.3408 per dollar at 4:17 p.m. New York time from 13.1801 late yesterday.
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