(Reuters) – Mexican industrial output was flat in March compared with February, missing expectations for an increase, and pointing to modest growth in Latin America’s second-largest economy, official data showed on Tuesday.
Compared with the same month a year earlier, industrial production rose by 1.7 percent in March, the figures from the national statistics office showed.
A poll of economists by Reuters had forecast output would rise in March by 0.35 percent month-on-month, adjusted for seasonal swings. The survey had predicted output would increase by 1.85 percent compared with the previous year.
Growth in industrial output in February was revised up by one-tenth of a percentage point to 0.3 percent month-on-month, the data showed. But that was preceded by month-on-month contractions in January 2015 and December 2014.
Mexico’s economy is seen growing by a little under 3 percent this year, and despite a booming auto sector, central bank governor Agustin Carstens said last week that industrial output was not as strong as the bank would have liked. (Writing by Dave Graham Editing by W Simon)
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