MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s government presented an almost $14 billion infrastructure investment plan on Monday as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador seeks to repair rocky relations with business leaders and lift the struggling economy.
The package, mostly privately financed, is the first clear sign of corporate bosses’ readiness to invest under Lopez Obrador since the coronavirus pandemic plunged Latin America’s no. 2 economy into its biggest slump since the Great Depression.
Ranging from a concession to revive a planned train link between Mexico City and the central city of Queretaro, to investments for state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the raft comprises some 39 projects, the government said.
Unveiling the plan, worth over 297 billion pesos ($13.83 billion), at a news conference, Lopez Obrador extended a hand to corporate bosses with conciliatory language.
“We have no problem with business leaders. On the contrary, they deserve our utmost respect and admiration because they invest, generate jobs and create welfare,” he said alongside some of Mexico’s most prominent industry chiefs.
Since taking power nearly two years ago, Lopez Obrador has had a choppy relationship with business, angering companies and allies of Mexico by threatening to tear up contracts worth billions of dollars signed under the previous government.
The leftist Lopez Obrador insists that past governments were permeated by corruption and skewed the economy in favor of private interests, particularly in the energy sector.
The resulting chill in investor confidence that set in helped to tip Mexico into a mild recession in 2019 before the pandemic battered the global economy.
Seven of the projects were already underway, while the remainder were to be started between this month and the end of next year, the government said in a presentation. Those fronted by Pemex were earmarked as “strategic alliances”.
Among the private companies leading pending projects was Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina (IDEAL), a builder controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
This year, leading forecasters expect Mexico’s economy to contract by up to 10% or more. Lopez Obrador has resisted calls to splash out to counteract the effects, keeping a tight rein on public purse strings to avoid going into debt.
Industry sources familiar with discussions on the projects said the president is increasingly conscious that he needs private sector investment to realize his economic goals.
Monday’s investment package was the first of what business leaders say should be a series of investment announcements.
The initial batch should create some 185,000-190,000 jobs, said Jorge Nuno, a senior finance ministry official.
Among the biggest projects listed were plans to improve the refining potential of Pemex, which Lopez Obrador has put at the center of his drive to create a more mixed economy.
(Reporting by Mexico City newsroom; Editing by Grant McCool)
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in the base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 172.18 points at 23,383.35.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.99 points at 40,826.72. The S&P 500 index was up 10.56 points at 5,564.69, while the Nasdaq composite was up 74.84 points at 17,470.37.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.55 cents US compared with 73.59 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up $2.00 at US$69.31 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up five cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$40.00 at US$2,582.40 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$4.20 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
