Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that the coronavirus could cost as many as a million jobs in the country as many industries considered not essential remain shut, according to a report in the international edition of Channel News Asia. The Mexican economy was already in recession before the pandemic struck and different investment banks have forecast contractions as large as 9 per cent for this year with only a gradual recovery next year.
Lopez Obrador’s government repeatedly said it had the outbreak under control but since posted record numbers for new cases and deaths. Earlier this week, his government issued guidelines for restarting operations in auto manufacturing, mining and construction in Latin America’s second-largest economy that is linked to the United States and Canada through a free trade agreement.
In April, the finance ministry said in an annual economic report used to guide the budget that the economy could contract by as much as 3.9 per cent this year, adding that the numbers incorporated a “drastic” impact from coronavirus.