The construction sector interrupted a three-month growth streak, although in a broader perspective its trajectory has been marked by the relative volatility of investment associated with public works, the flagship of the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Gross fixed investment by businesses and government in Mexico fell 1% in June, ending a five-month streak of increases and accentuating its slowdown during the first quarter of the year, according to data published this morning by the National Institute of Geography and Statistics (Inegi).
Within this sector, the variable suffered a significant 3.2% drop in investment spending in the construction sector, which in turn was motivated by a 4.6% drop in the residential sector and a 2.9% drop in the non-residential sector, according to data from the Monthly Indicator of Gross Fixed Capital Formation (IMFBCF).
There was also a 0.5% drop in investment in imported machinery and equipment, with spending on transport equipment falling by 10.2 percent.
The construction sector interrupted a three-month growth streak, although in a broader perspective its trajectory has been marked by the relative volatility of investment associated with public works, the flagship of the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The latter grew strongly until the third quarter of last year, but has zigzagged as some phases of the projects have been completed, as has occurred with the Mayan Train, the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec or the Mexico-Toluca Interurban Train. These works have been fully or partially inaugurated since August of last year.
It is worth noting that in the last 12 months, investment in the construction sector has seen progress in six months and declines in the other six.
From January to June, the IMFBCF grew 8.5%, a figure that more than quintuples the growth of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the same period, but is just over half of the 15.3% increase observed in the first half of 2023, a year in which fixed investment was the first component of spending to contribute to GDP growth.
