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Today, President López Obrador said Mexico had received USD $10 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first trimester of 2019 , seeking to ease doubts about his economic management and concerns over the risk of a ratings downgrade .
Preliminary data published by the Economy Ministry showed the FDI reached USD $10.16 billion during the January-March period, 7% up from a comparable estimate for the same quarter in 2018
The ministry published the estimate shortly after President López Obrador revealed the investment figure during his regular morning news conference to emphasize that the Mexican economy and its finances were in “good health.”
López Obrador
, who took office in December, had been asked for his opinion on a recent report by investment bank JPMorgan that Mexico faces a significant risk of a downgrade to its creditworthiness in the coming months.
Published Monday, the report on Latin America titled “ Time to Take Profits on Mexico ,” said there was “over a 50% probability” that Mexico’s sovereign rating would be downgraded at least one notch by at least one ratings agency in 2019.
JPMorgan
highlighted several risk factors for the Mexican economy , making particular note of the health of state oil company Pemex , which is carrying USD $106 billion in financial debt.
Last week, López Obrador said Pemex would take charge of the planned construction of what would be Mexico’s biggest refinery , amid warnings from analysts that the facility would be costly and did not make economic sense.
Mexico’s economy has been slow, contracting 0.2% during the first quarter from the October-December period, according to preliminary data.
Still, López Obrado r said investors had faith in Mexico and that rating agencies were free to make their decisions.
This week, the government presented new measures aimed at shoring up Pemex , though doubts persist about the company’s financial position .
López Obrador
noted the government had decided not to use a stabilization fund to support Pemex . The fund, he added, contained around MXN $300 billion .
The President also stressed that he would hold down Mexico’s debt during his administration, which ends in 2024 .
“The debt won’t increase in real terms,” he said, “and not just this year, in the whole six-year term.”
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