MEXICO CITY, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday downgraded Mexico's economic growth forecast for 2019 to 0.9 percent, citing lackluster investment and private domestic consumption.
Those two factors amid the moderate expansion of the global economy spell slower growth, the agency said in its latest World Economic Outlook report.
The previous IMF forecast released in April called for Mexico's gross domestic product to expand by 1.6 percent.
However, the agency maintained its 2020 growth forecast at 1.9 percent.
Investment remains weak and private consumption has slowed down as a result of uncertainty generated by the political landscape, deteriorating confidence and increase in the cost of loans, the report said.
Latin America's No. 2 economy, after Brazil, Mexico had an economic growth of 2 percent in 2018.
Mexico's Central Bank (Banxico) also forecast a slowdown this year, with growth of between 0.8 and 1.8 percent.
Latin America as a whole is expected to see lower growth in 2019 of just 0.6 percent, 0.8 percent less than last year, the IMF said.
