Mexico's GDP could shrink 10.5% this year -central bank board member

A board member of the Mexican central bank said on Wednesday that Mexico's gross domestic product could contract between 8.5% and 10.5% in 2020 as Latin America's second largest economy reels from the coronavirus pandemic.

Gerardo Esquivel, one of the Bank of Mexico's five board members, said that economic activity in Latin America's second-largest economy likely fell up to 20% in the second quarter when compared with a year earlier, which would make it the largest annual drop on record. He added that it could take until 2022 for economic activity to return to pre-pandemic levels as spending on tourism, transportation, restaurants and fast food have remained far below expected levels even through the end of July.

Esquivel and Jonathan Heath, the two board members appointed since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in December 2018, have at times pushed for more aggressive rate reductions than the others.

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