Mexico

Mexico’s economy faces “sizable” risks as the U.S. considers renegotiation of the Nafta free-trade agreement and other protectionist policies, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report. Latin America’s second-largest economy has so far proved itself resilient to the rhetoric of Donald Trump, who assumed the presidency in January promising to rewrite the trade deal, Bloomberg News reported. The Mexican peso has recovered recent losses and now trades at levels seen before the U.S. election.

When President Enrique Peña Nieto called Donald Trump and persuaded him not to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement on his 100th day in office, it was a reminder that Mexico has not lost its touch in managing international crises. Debt default, devaluation, hyperinflation and bank nationalisations — Mexico has coped with them all in the past four decades, the Financial Times reported. As Mr Trump was building his business empire, officials in Latin America’s second-biggest economy were cutting their teeth on catastrophe.

The Bank of Mexico stepped into the exchange market Thursday for the first time in almost a year to support the peso, which hit new lows against the U.S. dollar on fears that protectionist measures by the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could hurt the country’s trade and investment, The Wall Street Journal reported. The foreign-exchange commission, formed by central bank and Finance Ministry officials, said the dollar sales were to provide liquidity and ease the exchange volatility of recent days, and kept open the possibility of additional interventions.

Small groups of protesters blockaded some roads and gasoline stations in Mexico on Monday to protest a government price deregulation that sent the price of fuel up by as much as 20 percent over the weekend, the International New York Times reported. One group blockaded a privately owned gasoline station on Mexico City's main boulevard, shouting: "The people, united, will never be defeated!" "This will increase the cost of living for all Mexicans.

Mexico’s government has announced the biggest increases in petrol prices in almost two decades in a move that risks a backlash against its efforts to liberalise the country’s energy market, the Financial Times reported. The average prices across Mexico in January will be 15.99 pesos for a litre of regular petrol, 17.79 pesos for premium and 17.05 pesos for diesel, representing increases of 14.2 per cent, 20.1 per cent and 16.5 per cent, respectively, compared to December 2016.

Bank of Mexico Gov. Agustín Carstens will step down in July to become general manager of the Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Carstens will assume the post, which carries a five-year term, in October, succeeding Jaime Caruana, who has been in the position since 2009. He will be the first BIS leader to come from an emerging-market country. The BIS is a consortium of global central banks based in Basel, Switzerland. It hosts bimonthly meetings of top central bank officials and publishes regular research reports. Mr.

Mexico's embattled construction firm ICA said on Thursday it has named Guadalupe Phillips as its new chief executive officer, tasked with its ongoing financial restructuring. ICA, struggling under a high dollar-denominated debt load and a dwindling stream of projects, is in the process of restructuring its debt through several of its subsidiaries for about 7.5 billion pesos ($391 million). Phillips, who formerly served as Grupo Televisa Vice President, was named ICA's restructuring director in January. She will report to Bernardo Quintana, president of the ICA board of directors.

Mexican Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said he’s confident that increases in the key interest rate and the decline in the nation’s currency will have no more than a marginal effect on the nation’s debt level and fiscal balance, Bloomberg News reported today. Meade, who replaced Luis Videgaray three weeks ago, predicted Mexico will maintain its credit rating, on negative outlook at S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service, given its plan to have a primary surplus of 0.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2017.

America Movil SAB is interested in acquiring some or all of the operations run by struggling Brazilian rival Oi SA, the chief executive of the Mexican telecom giant said in a newspaper interview published on Wednesday. Brazilian paper Valor Economico reported that Daniel Hajj, CEO of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's telecom empire, said he was eyeing an acquisition of Oi operations whether or not the company is split up in the midst of an in-court restructuring. "We are open to looking at anything," Hajj said in the Valor report.

Mexican homebuilder Urbi said on Monday it expects to generate income worth roughly 1.9 billion pesos ($103.08 million) in the 12 months following its latest cash injection, and 29 billion pesos ($1.57 billion) over the next five years, Reuters reported. In May, Urbi, which was forced to restructure its outsize debt load after sales of its cheap, single-unit homes slumped, said it got a capital injection of 886.8 million pesos that will allow it to resume operations.