Growth softens

The past month has brought further signs that the recovery in economic growth in Latin America that began in mid-2012 is now running into headwinds. Admittedly, calendar effects have probably exacerbated the weakness of the very latest activity data. But even accounting for this it seems that growth slowed a touch in the first quarter of 2013. Our GDP tracker suggests that the region’s economy expanded by a little over 2.5% y/y in Q1 – down from around 3% y/y in Q4 and average growth of nearly 5.5% y/y in 2010-11. At a country level, Brazil continues to struggle, while previously strong performers such as Mexico and Chile have also started to slow.