Mexico

March 4th, 2022

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1. Change in the leadership of the CCE increases business confidence

The new president of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE for its Spanish acronym), Francisco Cervantes Díaz, reported that he will continue with the agenda promoted by the former president of the council, Carlos Salazar Lomelín, who negotiated a series of infrastructure projects in the country with the federal government. At his swearing-in ceremony, the new leader emphasized that infrastructure is essential to achieve development in more states. The event was attended by the presidents of the country’s main chambers and business associations.

In addition, business confidence improved its perception of the economy, with a higher degree of confidence for the manufacturing sector, reporting an increase of 1.8 points in February. The Business Confidence Indicator (ICE for its Spanish acronym) registered the greatest signs of confidence in that month for the industries of metal products, machinery, equipment, and furniture, as well as the oil and coal, chemical, and plastic industries.

Forbes: Sin infraestructura no hay crecimiento: Francisco Cervantes Díaz.
El Financiero: Confianza empresarial ‘rebota’ en febrero por mejor percepción de economía.

2. Economic consequences of the invasion of Ukraine in Mexico

The Capital Markets analyst at Invex, Areli Villeda Baranda, stated that the markets reacted negatively to the possibility of new consequences of the impact on the prices of raw materials and energy. In 2021, Russian exports to Mexico reached a record of USD $3,402.9 million, that is, three times more than the USD $1,137.9 million in 2020. In addition, companies such as Bimbo and Gruma suspended operations at their plants in Ukraine.

Some economic consequences of the conflict depend on the strong import of cereals from both Russia and Ukraine, so there could be impacts on firms such as Bimbo. In fact, Gruma’s division in Ukraine accounts for 8% of sales in Europe and 0.6% of global sales. Economic analysts from the Alianza Nacional de Pequeños Comerciantes (ANPEC, for its Spanish acronym) agree that the war will have an economic impact and will put pressure on the inflation level of value chains in general.

El Financiero: Gruma, Bimbo y Nemak pierden 8 mil mdp en la BMV por invasión a Ucrania

3. New president of the IFT reaffirms autonomy of the institute

IFT Commissioner Javier Juárez Mojica assumed the presidency of the agency based on the provisions of Article 19 of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law, which establishes that he must be the longest-serving member of the Plenary, among other requirements. This internal decision will allow the deliberation of important issues to continue, as well as to ensure adequate supervision of the Preponderant Economic Agent in Telecommunications (AEP-T, for its Spanish acronym) and competition in the country.

The Telecommunications Law Institute (IDET, for its Spanish acronym) pointed out that, in the face of a lack of commissioners, as well as the appointment of the president commissioner by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) is obliged to reinforce its efforts in the matter, to solve the internal problems of the institute from its autonomous nature.

Milenio: Sin comisionados, IFT es obligado a reforzar esfuerzos en telecom: IDET.

4. The merger of federal decentralized agencies begins

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador began his project for the merger of 16 decentralized and decentralized agencies under the argument of saving federal resources and not duplicating functions. In this first phase, the Mexican Youth Institute (Imjuve, for its Spanish acronym) will be part of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), as well as the dissolution of the Executive Secretariat of the National Anticorruption System (SNA) in order to increase spending on social programs.

On the other hand, the Ministry of the Interior plans to strengthen the professionalization of the performance of legal operators within the Criminal Justice System in all 32 states of the country. The committee will oversee designing the competency standards to increase the capacities and knowledge of the participants of the National Criminal Justice System.

El Universal:  AMLO inicia la fusión de organismos y dependencias.
El Economista: Fortalecerán sistema de justicia penal.

5. The opposition meets with the Ministry of the Interior

The Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López, received this Wednesday the governors of the National Action Party (PAN) with whom he spoke about the national agenda and cooperation with different entities in the country. The heads of state of Tamaulipas, Francisco Javier Cabeza de Vaca, attended the headquarters of the federal agency; from Quintana Roo, Carlos Joaquín González and from Yucatán, Mauricio Vila.

However, the Ministry of the Interior is still suspending the meeting that it had promised to hold with legislators and the national leadership of the PAN related to national issues, such as constitutional reform initiatives such as the electricity industry, the political-electoral, and the National Guard.

Excélsior:  Adán Augusto López se reúne con gobernadores del PAN.