MEXICO CITY, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's economy contracted 0.1 percent in 2019 compared to the year before, according to preliminary figures released Thursday by the National Statistics and Geography Institute (Inegi).

Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank due to a fall in industrial activity, which relies on U.S. demand, Inegi said.

Industrial activity decreased 1.7 percent last year. In contrast, the services sector, which contributes the most to GDP, grew 0.5 percent.

The agricultural sector, the third biggest contributor to GDP, grew 1.9 percent.

A quarterly figure showed GDP shrank 0.3 percent in the last quarter of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, leading to three quarters in a row of negative growth, all due to weak industrial output, which fell 1.8 percent from October to December.

Again, the services sector grew 0.2 percent in the final quarter, while agricultural activity expanded 1.9 percent.

Mexico's 2019 growth results marked the first time in a decade that Mexico's economy saw negative growth, after expanding 2.1 percent in 2018.

Alexis Milo, chief economist for Mexico at HSBC, said via Twitter that in the past three decades, only four years saw GDP slide: 1995, 2001, 2009 and 2019.

Mexico's Ve por Mas (Bx+) financial group blamed the outcome on slowing industrial activity in the United States, Mexico's main trade partner, and forecast modest improvement this year.

In Mexico, 2020 stands to see economic "activity respond positively to lower interest rates, greater efficiency in public spending and the partial clearing of uncertainty in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)," the financial group said.

"However, we expect a modest recovery in growth," due to sluggish U.S. industry and low levels of investment in Mexico in recent years," the group said. Enditem

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