Mexico won't have big economic stimulus: President López Obrador

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Sunday there will be no huge economic stimulus program as the country faces the threat of a coronavirus-induced crisis almost certainly unlike any it has seen in the past century.

Even before the pandemic, Mexico's economy had already been in recession.

Then last week, Mexico's Treasury predicted the country's economy will contract as much as 3.9% in 2020 because of the pandemic, and private analysts are making even direr predictions.

The Bank of America predicted Thursday that Mexico's GDP could contract 8% this year.

That would be a bigger downturn than during the 2009 global recession, complicated in Mexico by the H1N1 pandemic, when GDP decreased 6.5%.

It would also be worse than the December 1994 peso crisis, following which the country's GDP fell 6.2% in 1995.

A close economic partner of the United States, Mexico will expect to receive some benefit from the huge $2 trillion stimulus package approved there.

Mexico has reported 94 deaths related to the virus and more than 2,100 confirmed infections.

For most people, the coronavirus results in mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

But it can cause more several illness, including pneumonia and death, for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.

(Picture credit: AP)