MEXICO CITY: Mexico's consumer confidence index rose for the third month in a row in August as the economy gradually recovers from a severe slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic, data from the national statistics agency showed on Friday.

Adjusted for seasonal factors, consumer confidence was 34.6 in August, the first time the gauge has been published in months. Back data showed the reading was the highest since March and that the index has risen every month since a May trough.

Mexican gross domestic product shrank by more than 17% quarter-on-quarter in the April-June period as the pandemic battered Latin America's no. 2 economy, forcing factories to shut, keeping shoppers and tourists at home and hitting trade.

The coronavirus has severely tested the administration of leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who was already grappling with a mild recession in 2019.

The statistics agency temporarily stopped publishing consumer confidence figures in their current form because it deemed the face-to-face surveys used to collect the data unsafe.

During the pandemic, it did some surveys by phone and put out data in a different format.

In March, the last month for which the current indicator was published, consumer confidence stood at 42.5.

The unadjusted consumer confidence index registered 35.1 last month, also the highest since March, the figures showed.