Late last week, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Businessweek reported on Mexico’s expanding economy, as its GDP exceeded all expectations in the first quarter. 

“Mexico’s economy grew at the fastest pace in more than a year in the first quarter as U.S. demand picked up, the latest sign that the nation is surpassing Brazil, Latin America’s biggest economy,” wrote Bloomberg.

According to the National Statistics Institute (Inegi), Mexico’s GDP grew an impressive 4.6 percent from the first quarter of 2011, which is even more than the projected 4.5 percent forecasted by 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Mexico also boasts the lowest inflation rate in Latin America, and interest rates that have remained at record lows for the past 34 months - all good news for Mexico real estate.

“These numbers suggest that growth could be better than anticipated,” Mexico’s Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari told Dow Jones Newswires last week, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Mexico’s agriculture industry led this impressive growth, increasing by an impressive 6.8 percent from the same period in 2011, and more than any time since 2008. In addition, Mexico’s manufacturing sector expanded by 5.5 percent, and its strong services industry grew by around 5 percent.

“Exports rose 3.4 percent to a record $32.4 billion in March from a year ago, with a trade surplus reaching $1.6 billion, the highest monthly figure since 1985,” reported Bloomberg. “Mexico is poised to become the fourth-largest global exporter of automobiles this year, President Felipe Calderon said on May 14th.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, last week Mexico’s central bank also increased its economic growth forecast for 2012 from 3-4 percent to 3.25-4.25 percent, due to the better-than-expected GDP numbers and improved prospects for U.S. economic growth.

Bloomberg reported that consumer confidence also soared to a four-year high in Mexico during the first quarter, and economic growth hit a high of 6.24 percent in February. In addition, this year the peso has avoided declines, and Mexico’s inflation remains stable despite the strong economic growth.

“The outlook on inflation in Mexico is pretty steady, pretty stable, pretty predictable,” Enrique Alvarez, an emerging market analyst at IdeaGlobal in New York told Bloomberg. “You get a more favorable outlook and panorama in Mexico.”