Mexico’s 1st-Quarter GDP Surges 3.7%

Mexico’s economy expanded at its fastest pace in more than a year in the first quarter, bolstered by a surge in demand from the U.S. for goods such as nylon and polyester.

Gross domestic product grew 3.7% from the same period a year earlier after growing 2% the previous quarter, the Finance Ministry said.

Latin America’s largest economy is emerging from a three-year slump in which the expansion failed even to keep pace with the country’s 1.4% population growth rate.

The expansion in the first quarter was the fastest since the fourth quarter of 2002, when GDP expanded 3.75%.

From Bloomberg News

* Japan’s economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the first three months of the year as business investment and consumer spending helped broaden an export-led recovery.

GDP expanded at an annual rate of 5.6%, beating a forecast of 3.6% and outstripping U.S. growth of 4.2% in the same period.

Robust exports of high-tech goods such as flat-panel TVs and DVDs has spurred investment and stronger corporate profits, which are slowly feeding through into rising incomes and more jobs.

* China’s economy expanded at an annual rate of 9.8% in the first quarter of this year, the government said, revising a preliminary estimate that put GDP growth at 9.7%.