Mexico’s economy picks up in Q1

MEXICO CITY: Mexico´s economy picked up speed in the first quarter, official data showed on Wednesday, driven by robust service-sector activity and solid advances in manufacturing and agriculture.

Latin America´s second biggest economy grew 1.1 percent in seasonally adjusted terms compared with the previous three-month period, the national statistics agency said.

The data was in line with preliminary figures released last month. That was an acceleration from the fourth quarter last year, when the economy grew 0.9 percent, the agency said.

A breakdown of the seasonally adjusted data showed the industrial sector grew 0.9 percent in the first quarter compared with the October-December period, while agriculture advanced 0.9 percent and services expanded 1.1 percent.