Dismal Industrial and Manufacturing Growth Point to Peso Devaluation

Talking Points:

• Industrial Production Falls in January 2015.

• Sluggish Manufacturing Output Leads to Peso Depreciation.

The Peso depreciated against the USD as Mexican Industrial output shrank in January 2015 according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography. Industrial production month-on-month dipped by -0.4 percent in January 2015, its largest monthly drop since September 2013. The -0.4 percent figure came in well below leading economists’ expectations of 0.3 percent to begin the year, an optimistic expectation when compared to December 2014’s figure of -0.3 percent. On a yearly measure, industrial production actually rose by 0.3 percent, compared to the same month in the previous year, and ahead of leading analysts’ expectations of 2.1 percent. Yearly manufacturing production also experienced a dramatic hit, coming in at 1.2 percent, well below the 4.0 percent figure, predicted by Bloomberg.