On February 9, President López Obrador proposed putting a “pause” in relations between Mexico and Spain. It is important to remember that direct foreign investment from Spain in Mexico ranks second, from 1999 to March 2020, 70,898 million dollars (mdd), only behind the United States.
It is a delicate message sent by the government of President López Obrador to a friendly country that is also the European country that invests the most in Mexico. The sectors where it invests the most are in financial services with approximately 29,000 million dollars that represents 40%, telecommunications with 15,000 million dollars that represents 21.5%; electricity generation with 8,553 million dollars, which represents 12%.
The current government of Mexico continues to have the dogma that when one country invests in another it is “conquering” it. The investment has a positive effect for the country because it creates sources of employment, it is delicate that it is even considering putting our relations with Spain on pause when Mexico needs to have more investment in order to have greater economic growth.
The data is telling us that we will have a six-year period of zero economic growth and greater poverty. It is not just an issue of the pandemic, but of the bad public policies that the current government is implementing.
In addition, it must be added that the issue of the energy counter-reform is complicating the relationship between the United States and Mexico. Is President López Obrador also going to suspend relations with the United States? I hope not, but if you continue with these messages, what you generate is uncertainty to invest in the country.