Mexico City - Mexico launched Tuesday a plan to provide more than 1 billion dollars to help alleviate the "significant impact" of the influenza outbreak on the Mexican economy.

Finance Minister Agustin Carstens said that the plan includes fiscal stimuli, measures to promote tourism and loans, in an effort to induce rapid recovery.

The authorities will allow a 20 per cent reduction in employers' contributions to social security in the May-June period, and lowered taxes on restaurants, hotels and entertainment facilities. A tourism promotion fund will spend about 15 million dollars.

Also included in the plan are 50-per-cent reductions in airlines' operating rights, and a reduction in taxes on cruises and loans for specific sectors, like tourism or pig rearing, worth about 750 million dollars.

Mexico estimates that the impact of the flu will be around 0.3-0.5 per cent of its GDP, and that up to 750 million dollars will be lost in tax income. However, the effect was expected to be short-term and officials were upbeat about a rapid recovery.

"These measures join those that were already in place to face the global crisis," Carstens said, referring to the worldwide recession.

He hoped that the flu epidemic will no longer be a factor in the economy by the end of the year.

Mexican authorities confirmed Monday that 26 people have died of the new variant of influenza A/H1N1 and said they would start easing restrictions on Wednesday in the epicentre of the global flu outbreak.