Mexico GDP to shrink to 1.5%: CB

MEXICO CITY: The Bank of Mexico cut its forecast for economic growth this year and next, according to the central bank’s quarterly report on Wednesday, citing weaker foreign manufacturing demand while inflation remains stubborn. The central bank for Latin America’s No 2 economy now expects 2024 gross domestic product growth of 1.5 percent, down from a previous forecast of 2.4 percent, and 1.2 percent growth next year from a prior forecast of 1.5 percent. Banxico, as the central bank is known, said it had reduced this forecast due to weaker-than-expected second-quarter growth, noting external demand should remain soft due to expected weakness in US manufacturing as well as fewer public infrastructure projects boosting domestic construction. — Reuters

Poland’s 2025 budget deficit to rise

WARSAW: Poland’s government sees its general deficit rising to 5.5 percent of GDP in 2025, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday, as Warsaw ramps up defense spending and drops some practices of the former administration that critics said kept costs off the books. The government’s draft budget for next year also envisages the economy growing by 3.9 percent, higher than the 3.7 percent forecast in budget assumptions published in June, with public sector debt at 59.8 percent, close to the constitutional limit of 60 percent. — Reuters

Swedish economy shrinks in Q2

STOCKHOLM: The Swedish economy shrank in the second quarter as household spending and investment fell, official data showed Thursday. The country’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.3 percent compared to the first quarter, when it grew 0.7 percent, according to Statistics Sweden. “GDP decreased slightly in the second quarter. The downturn in the economy was wide but offset by the foreign trade in goods, where exports increased and imports decreased,” said Jessica Engdahl, head of national accounts at Statistics Sweden. — AFP

Huawei posts 34.3% rise in H1 sales

BEIJING: Chinese tech giant Huawei said Thursday that sales surged in the first half of the year, even as it struggles under the weight of sanctions that have deprived it of technology from the United States. The Shenzhen-based company has for several years been at the centre of an intense technological rivalry between Beijing and Washington, with US officials warning its equipment could be used to spy on behalf of Chinese authorities — allegations it denies. Since 2019, the sanctions have cut Huawei off from global supply chains for technology and US-made components, hammering its production of smartphones at the time. — AFP

CPTPP effective by Dec 15: Britain

LONDON: The British government said on Thursday its agreement to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would enter into force by Dec 15 this year after it received the final ratification required. CPTPP is a free trade agreement sealed in 2018 between 11 countries - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Britain is the only European member of CPTPP and the first new country to join since its inception. — Reuters

Britain concluded negotiations to join the pact in March 2023 and formally signed the accession treaty in July that year but required the ratification by its own government and at least six other member states. — Reuters