Mexico City, Sep 2 (EFE).- Mexico's economy grew 6.6 percent in the first half of the year, bouncing back from the 6.5 percent contraction registered during the same period last year, President Felipe Calderon said in his 4th state of the nation report.

"The GDP grew at an annual rate of 4.3 percent in the first quarter of 2010 and 7.6 percent in the second quarter, the fastest rate in the past 12 years," Calderon said in the report delivered to Congress on Wednesday.

Mexico's economy created 575,163 jobs registered with the Social Security Institute during the first seven and one half months of the year, the president said.

The industrial sector grew 6.6 percent in the January-June period, while automobile production, one of the areas hammered by the recession, surged 79 percent during the same period, Calderon said.

Mexico has continued to enjoy the confidence of foreign investors, attracting $12.23 billion in foreign direct investment in the first half of 2010, a figure that was up 23 percent from the same period last year, the president said.

The financial markets have also expressed confidence in Mexico's economic policy, with the International Monetary Fund renewing a $48 billion line of credit, Calderon said.

Calderon credited his economic policy for the strong recovery, noting that his administration's approach was "responsible and timely without deteriorating public finances, as happens in other countries and occurred in the past in Mexico."

Mexico has maintained a moderate deficit, expanded social spending to deal with the recession's effects, taken measures to promote efficiency and realized savings from government operations, the president said.