Mexico Diversifies Exports and Reduces Reliance on the United States
November 25th, 2011Source: The Vancouver Sun
For years after the North American Free Trade Agreement came into force, the main road to riches for many Mexican entrepreneurs was across the border. Now they are increasingly likely to cross an ocean instead.
Mexico’s foreign trade with the United States soared after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which also includes Canada, kicked off in 1994, almost tripling in six years.
But having then become dependent on U.S. demand for 88 percent of exports, Mexican firms were heavily exposed to economic shocks across the frontier, and the economy was battered by the financial crash that hit Wall Street in 2008.
Since the crisis, Mexico has stepped up efforts to limit its reliance on the world’s biggest economy, ratcheting up trade with Latin America, Asia and Europe, aided by a depreciation in the peso against a range of currencies.
After pulling out of recession, Mexico …
Latin American Countries Differ in Ability to Confront Crisis
October 7th, 2011Source: Bloomberg
Most Latin American nations are well-prepared to confront a worsening debt crisis in Europe and slower growth in the U.S. as China’s commodities purchases give the region a “minimum” level of economic support, Moody’s said.
“We don’t anticipate ratings changes in the region,” said Mauro Leos, senior Latin America analyst for Moody’s, in an interview today in Buenos Aires. “Most countries are well-prepared” after suffering through earlier financial and economic shocks in the 1990s and 2000s, he added.
Mexico, Colombia and Central America are likely to be hardest hit by any global slowdown as a result of their close ties to the U.S., Leos said in an interview today in Buenos Aires. Argentina, which hasn’t had access to international debt markets since a 2001 default, and doesn’t have a contingency credit line with the International Monetary Fund, has more limited options to face a global slowdown, Leos said.
Growth forecasts …
