Mexico's economy growing despite Omicron spread: President

Mexico City, Jan 18 (IANS) Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the pace of the country's economic recovery has remained on track despite the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant."Even with this new wave of (Covid-19) infections, we are still growing, economic growth has not stopped," Lopez Obrador told reporters following a six-day period of quarantine he was in after contracting Covid-19 for the second time.While restaurants and other sectors have been impacted by the new outbreak, acknowledged Lopez Obrador, he said he was confident that it was a "passing" effect, reports Xinhua news agency.Lopez Obrador ruled out companies once again resorting to laying off workers as they did when the Delta variant forced the partial closure of some economic sectors.Omicron does not have the same severity as Delta, both in terms of symptoms and recovery time, he added.The Mexican government forecast the economy grew some 6 per cent in 2021. Preliminary economic growth figures are due to be released on January 31.
--IANS ksk/

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