Mexico City, Mar 23 (IANS): More than 1 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) closed in Mexico last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, official figures revealed.

In a report on Monday, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) said that a total of 1,010,857 businesses closed completely, 20.8 per cent of the country's total, as a result of the pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.

The autonomous body indicated, however, that in the referenced period, 619,443 businesses were also created, 12.8 per cent of the total.

INEGI indicated that of the total number of enterprises in the informal sphere that permanently closed, 10 per cent were engaged in private non-financial service activities and 9.5 per cent were engaged in commerce.

The Mexican economy, the second largest in Latin America after Brazil, plummeted 8.2 per cent in 2020, its worst record since the 1930s, as a result of the ongoing health crisis.