MEXICO CITY, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will take over a sound economy as well as "significant challenges," said a report released on Thursday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"The incoming administration will inherit an economy with very strong fundamentals and policy frameworks that has exhibited resilience in the face of a complex external environment," the global lending agency said.

"But Mexico still confronts significant challenges, namely to strengthen growth while reducing poverty and inequality," as well as fighting "corruption and crime," the agency said.

Efforts to address those issues, noted the IMF, will be complicated by a sizable public debt that "limits space for social and infrastructure spending," both pillars of Lopez Obrador's national development program.

Mexico's economy is expected to grow 2.1 percent this year and 2.3 percent in 2019.

To boost growth, the agency said "reforms will need to focus on raising public investment and social spending, as well as reinvigorating the structural reform agenda with emphasis on strengthening the rule of law, fighting corruption, and reducing labor market informality."

Lopez Obrador takes office on Dec. 1.