A closer look at Mexico’s mining downturn

First quarter GDP data from Mexico, due to be released tomorrow, are likely to show that the economy made a sluggish start to the year, due in large part to continued weakness in the mining sector. Although there is no doubt that the plunge in oil prices since the middle of last year has contributed to problems in the sector, this doesn’t explain the full extent of the downturn. The good news, however, is that there are reasons to think that mining production should stabilise over the second half of this year.