Events have conspired against Mexico in the past few years. The country's economic cycle was on a downward trend even before the global financial crisis erupted, with consumption and credit levels slowing months before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Its dependency on exports to the US and to the manufacturing and automobile sectors aggravated the situation further. And so did the devastating effects of the H1N1 ('swine') flu, which put the whole country on a standstill for weeks and kept tourists away. With a low tax take limiting any space for countercyclical manoeuvres, the arrival of the global recession hit the country very hard.
Of late, though, Mexico's symbiotic relationship with the US economy is working in the country's favour again. With the US showing signs of a recovery, there are higher expectations for Mexico's future - despite slow levels of domestic demand.
