MEXICO CITY, June 18 (Reuters) - Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday he expects that by the third quarter the Mexican economy will reach pre-pandemic levels, after gross domestic product contracted by some 8.5% last year due to the fallout of the pandemic. Mexico’s economy grew 24.8% in May compared with the same month last year, as a recovery from a slump induced by the coronavirus pandemic gathered pace, a preliminary estimate published by national statistics agency INEGI showed on Thursday. (Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)