By Aida Pelaez-Fernandez
MEXICO CITY, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Mexico’s economy grew more than expected in the fourth quarter, registering its strongest quarterly expansion in more than a year, official data showed on Monday.
Latin America’s second-largest economy grew 0.9% in the fourth quarter, slightly above a preliminary estimate published last month by national statistics agency INEGI and forecasts from economists in a Reuters poll, both of which pointed to a 0.8% expansion.
The data improved from a revised 0.1% expansion in the third quarter, data from INEGI showed, and marked the strongest performance since the third quarter of 2024.
The economy was mainly fueled by the secondary sector, which includes manufacturing and construction, and tertiary activities, that both grew 0.9% compared with the prior quarter.
Those increases made up for the 1.4% contraction from primary activities, which include farming, fishing and mining.
In annual terms, the economy expanded 1.8% in the quarter compared to a year earlier, also above expectations.
Despite the solid fourth-quarter data, analysts have remained cautious about Mexico’s economy in 2026, expecting a slow track amid high uncertainty as the review of the USMCA trade deal with the United States and Canada approaches.
Throughout last year, the Mexican economy grew by 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis, a figure also slightly higher than the 0.7% estimate previously provided by INEGI.
DECEMBER ACTIVITY
In a separate statement, INEGI reported that Mexico’s economic activity expanded in December with all three sectors posting growth.
Economic activity grew 0.4% in the last month of 2025 from November, rebounding from a slight 0.1% contraction the previous month and exceeding expectations.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Ricardo Figueroa; Editing by William Maclean and Chizu Nomiyama )
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