In April 2018, the state of Campeche presented the highest annual growth in the country regarding the value of manufacturing production, with a real rate of 49.7%.
This variation represented three double-digit figures: 10.5% in February and 35.5% in March, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
The result was significant for Campeche, since the low oil prices and the decrease in oil production caused the economic activity of the state to decrease significantly, due to its high dependence on this sector that is currently in an evident recessive phase. On the last quarter of 2013, economic growth was negative in Campeche.
Although manufacturing represents just 0.4% of the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the sector’s 49.7% increase in April materializes the diversification process that the cureent state adminstration intends to do, since 80.3% of GDP still corresponds to the oil industry.
Campeche is the seventh largest economy in the country and the first place in GDP of secondary activities (construction, mining, manufacturing, generation and distribution of electricity and water and gas supply through pipelines to the final consumer).
The head of the State Economic Development Secretariat, José Domingo Berzunza Espínola, said that the declaration of Campeche’s EEZ represents a great opportunity to diversify and boost the economy with productive actions by incentives for local companies, as well as for national and foreign investments.
“The Special Economic Zone will boost the agro-industry, secondary petrochemical, basic chemical, plastic-rubber, textile and automotive sectors in different modes”, he said.
“After the decline in the price of oil, Campeche decided to take advantage of the export model of manufacturing that was very profitable, however, results are obtained little by little as a consequence of its economic conditions,” explained Kristobal Meléndez Aguilar, an analyst at the Center for Economic and Budgetary Research (Centro de Investigación en Economía y Presupuesto CIEP).
After Campeche, the states with the largest growth in manufacturing production during April of this year are: San Luis Potosí (33.2% in real terms), Michoacán (21.9%), Oaxaca (20.7%) and Baja California (16.2%).
On the other hand, the entities that exhibited the biggest annual falls in manufacturing production during the fourth month of 2018 were Coahuila (16.6% real), Baja California Sur (13.1%) and Sonora (11.8%).
In April, five states concentrated 49.8% of the value of the manufacturing industry nationwide: State of Mexico (13.2%), Nuevo León (12.1%), Guanajuato (9.8%), Coahuila (8.3%) and Jalisco (6.4%).
Source: campechehoy.mx
