The Mexican Institute of Finance Executives (IMEF) released on Monday its Mexican manufacturing index for the month of June, which showed that while manufacturing activity in the country was still contracting in June, it reached its highest point since the global financial crisis hit Mexico's economy last fall.
After dropping in April and May, the IMEF manufacturing index increased to 48.2 points in June from 46.8 in May, reaching its highest level since October. Nevertheless, the June index level is 3.7 points below that of the same month of last year and is still below the "expansion" threshold of 50 points. June was the 12th straight month in which the index remained below 50 points. The slight gains in the index seen from January to April of this year were interrupted by the toll businesses in the country suffered due to the efforts taken to contain the swine flu, causing the index to drop again in April and May.
IMEF's measures of new orders and production also both jumped sharply in June yet still indicate that the economy is in a recession.
The IMEF also estimated that the country's gross domestic product would decline by over six percent in 2009, which would rank it the number one worst economic performer amongst all Latin American countries.