Mexico's Economy Giving Brazil, China a Run for their Money

This year alone, Nissan, Ford, Audi and BMW announced plans to open new factories or increase production in Mexico.

Here's a bold prediction for 2022: Mexico will beat Brazil.  Some analysts say 2022 may actually be the year when Mexico moves past Brazil to become Latin America's biggest economy.  And Brazil is not the only global powerhouse that Mexico is challenging. China's rising wages are making Mexico an increasingly attractive location for manufacturers, who are flocking here despite a relentless drug war.

The country's rising fortune has inspired a series of optimistic notes by analysts from some of the world's biggest financial firms.

"We forecast that Mexico may overtake Brazil as the No.1 economy in Latin America as early as 2022, on the back of strong growth in human capital and total factor productivity," Nomura Group analysts wrote last month. "Embarking on a trajectory of high growth will mark the birth of the first, not tiger, but 'jaguar' country in Latam."

Mexico posted growth of 3.9% in 2011 and the central bank is forecasting growth of as much as 4.25% this year. Brazil's growth slowed to 2.7% last year, while a mere 1.6% is forecast for this year.

Brazil's slowdown came after it enjoyed a "golden decade" fueled by China's appetite for commodities following the Asian giant's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, Nomura stated in a previous note in May.