• ESTIMATES: The forced lockdown of Mexico’s commercial and tourism sectors due to the coronavirus pandemic is expected to have triggered a loss of at least US $20.8 billion between March 17th and May 10th, according to new estimates by the Mexican private sector.
• EMERGENCY: Even when the government only declared a health emergency until March 30th, many businesses across Mexico had began to slow down operations since mid-March. The pandemic arrived in Mexico only weeks before the two-week Holy Week vacation period.
• BLOW: “These decisions (the closures) represent a hard economic blow for thousands of micro, small and medium-sized companies, but also for large corporations”, said José Manuel López Campos, head of Mexico’s commercial and tourism chamber (CONCANACO).
• CRISIS: Different to other countries in Latin America, Mexico has not implemented any major fiscal relief packages for the private sector. A survey among private analysts released by Mexico’s central bank on Monday showed that the estimated economic contraction for 2020 is 7.1% of GDP.
