Covid-19: Mexico's economy suffers a worsening crisis

By James Blears

Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography states that Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, slumped by almost eighteen percent over the second quarter, compared to the first three months of this year. 

It's a massive blow and a stark challenge for the Government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, which was already facing down a mild recession, before all of this even started.

But now Covid 19 has transformed it into an economic meltdown, the like of which hasn't been seen since the 1910 Mexican Revolution.

Mexico relies heavily on the service industries including tourism. That`s plummeted more than sixteen percent.

But the hardest body blow has been taken full on the chin,  by manufacturing which has crashed more than twenty five percent.

Economists are now predicting that the overall economy could contract by more than thirteen percent  this year. That's compared to three percent last year. But it's not taking into account the informal economy, in which more than half of Mexicans work, and which can't be accurately gauged by any formal statistics. 

More than a million jobs have already been lost, but this is just the tip of the iceberg and the beginning of the disaster. Mexico's economy which doesn't have the robustness of its giant northern neighbor is facing an artic economic winter of discontent. 

Millions in remittances or money sent home from Mexicans working in the United States, absolutely essential to families back home is going to be decimated and mostly lost.