The present administration’s goal is to attract US $150 billion dollars in foreign direct investment over its six-year term as a result of new business attraction, according to the Mexican Secretariat of the Economy.

At the recent annual National Conference of Governors held in Toluca in the State of Mexico, Ildelfonso Guajardo, head of the Mexican Secretariat of the Economy, expressed that it is his organization’s goal to facilitate the flow of US$ 30 billion dollars of new FDI into the Mexican Republic over the course of calendar year 2016. Foreign investors that have been particularly interested in taking advantage of the economic and geographic advantages that Mexico offers have been those in the automotive, medical device, aerospace, electronics industries among others.

A weak Peso can be positive

Although in some regards the depreciation of the Mexican Peso against the US Dollar has presented challenges for the nation’s economy, when speaking to state governors in Toluca, the head of the Mexican Secretariat of the Economy, Secretary Guajardo pointed out that these conditions favored the continued influx of FDI from outside of Mexico’s borders. He also stressed that those considering the initiation of projects in Mexico take two important points into consideration:

  • the highly developed position of Mexico as a global export platform resulting from the development of a far-reaching and comprehensive international free trade agreement network;
  • the business-friendly environment that the present administration has fostered through the passage of several significant economic reform packages over the course of the last several years.

Mexico has come a long way in relatively short time

Consider the following:

  • Before the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1992, received an average annual sum of foreign direct investment that totaled approximately US $5 billion.
  • Between the years 1992-2012, FDI increased from the aforementioned annual sum to an average of US $19 billion per annum.
  • According to the Mexican Secretariat of the Economy FDI under the current administration of Enrique Nieto Pena has risen to approximately US $30 billon on an annual basis.