SEPTEMBER 2005 EDITION ARCHIVE

• • Business & Politics Outlook

    New President of PRI

    Over the past several days the General Assembly of the Institutional Revolutionary Party ("PRI") met to name a new president of the party to substitute for Roberto Madrazo, who will contend for the party's nomination against Arturo Montiel, governor of the State of Mexico.  In a special meeting of the PRI, Mariano Palacios Alcocer was named president of the party; he maintains strong ties with Roberto Madrazo.  However, the current General Secretary of the party, Elba Esther... [Read More]

  • Fox Proposed New Reforms for Fiscal Structure of PEMEX

    President Vicente Fox returned to the Mexican Chamber of Deputies a draft fiscal reform of Petróleos Mexicanos ("PEMEX") proposed and approved by the deputies, making a series of observations and comments to the effect that the draft would affect sensitive public finances of the federal government, especially in the areas of health, public safety and education.  His comments were focused on parts of the draft proposal that eliminated certain contributions paid by PEMEX to the... [Read More]

  • Amnesty for Legalization of Used Vehicles Originating in the United States

    The federal government has again issued an amnesty for the legalization of used automobiles imported illegally into Mexico for model years greater than ten years.  In addition, the Department of Finance and Public Credit ("Hacienda") has exempted new vehicles, and those vehicles with an imported value of less than $150,000.00 pesos, from applicable taxes.  The above exemption was offered to avoid discontent among Mexican automotive industry officials. 

  • For the First Time in its History Mexico Imposes Commercial Sanctions on U.S. Products under the Byrd Law (2000)

    Based on a decision issued the by the World Trade Organization ("WTO"), which determined that the government of the United States of America violated the GATT when it enacted the Byrd Law, which granted economic benefits to certain sectors of the U.S. economy, Mexico decided to establish commercial restrictions on various customs tariff classifications amounting to an additional 20.9 million U.S. dollars, with the purpose of protecting Mexican industry.  The additional products and... [Read More]

  • Lower Expectation of GDP Growth

    The Coordinator of Public Policy of the presidency, Eduardo Sojo, announced that the federal government had lowered its expectations for GDP growth for 2005 from 3.8% to 3.5% based on the fact that growth of the Mexican economy in the first half of 2005 was 2.8%, 1.2 points lower than the growth of the previous year.  Financial analysts predict the Mexican economy will grow at a rate of 3.4%.

  • Increase in Prices of Mexican Mixed Crude Oil

    Owing to serious damage to petroleum platforms and equipments in the Gulf of Mexico related to Hurricane Katrina, Mexican mixed crude oil reached $60.00 per barrel.  However, said price decreased after the U.S. government announced that it would tap into its strategic reserves, leaving the price of Mexican mixed petroleum at $52.34 per barrel.

  • Enactment of Sugar Cane Sustainable Development Law

    Based on pressure exerted by farming organizations belonging to the PRI, the Mexican government published and enacted a new Sugar Law, for the purpose of establishing agencies that will regulate and determine, among other things, the final sales price of raw sugar cane, which marks a return to the previous regulatory regime that was canceled by President Fox at the beginning of this year.

  • Economic Indicators

    Dollar Quotation

    The Mexican Pesos depreciated against the U.S. Dollar, the current exchange rate is 10.8 pesos per Dollar, which differs from the exchange rate of 10.59 Pesos at the close of the month of July.

  • Mexican Stock Exchange

    The Mexican Stock Market is currently (September 7) at 15,043 points, a new historic record, partially due to increases in the construction and telecommunications sectors, as well as an increase in the U.S. financial markets. 

  • Interest Rates

    Interest rates have fallen slightly in the last month.  The Interbank average interest rate for 28-day government securities stands at 9.73%.