Mexico awaits growth figures amid recession concerns

ANKARA

Mexico's national statistic agency on Wednesday will announce growth figures for the first half of 2019 amid recession concerns.

The Inegi will publish a preliminary estimate for the gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter at 6 a.m. (1100GMT) after the economy shrank 0.2% quarter-on-quarter between January and March.

On Monday, the country's Finance Minister Arturo Herrera announced a 485-billion-peso ($25.4 billion) stimulus package which is expected to boost Mexico's ailing economy

"Two-thirds of that amount -- 320 billion pesos (nearly $16.8 billion) -- will be spent on 1.2 million credits to support investment and consumption, 116 billion pesos ($6.08 billion) will be used to accelerate spending on contracts by bringing forward purchases of goods and services that had been scheduled for 2020 and about 50 billion pesos ($2.62 billion) will go to infrastructure projects," Herrera told a news conference, the Mexico News Daily reported.

He added that a range of public-private projects would be included in the package.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Abrador is under fire at home over a migrant detention deal signed between his government and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on June 7 to reduce the immigration flow and avoid U.S. tariffs.

This latest move is expected to salvage the dwindling reputation of the government.

The Mexican Finance Ministry said in a statement that the state bank would also provide credits to more than 130,000 small and medium-sized businesses and 370,000 micro-businesses.