Mexico Sells $1.5 Billion of Bonds in First 2013 Sovereign Deal

Bloomberg, 1/7/2013

Mexico sold $1.5 billion of bonds abroad in the first sovereign offering this year, according to a person familiar with the transaction. The country, which has Latin America’s biggest economy after Brazil, sold more of its 2044 debt to yield 1.1 percentage points above Treasuries, or 4.194 percent, said the person, who asked not to be identified because he wasn’t allowed to speak publicly. The yield on the bonds fell to 4.11 percent on Jan. 4 from 4.84 percent when they were first issued in March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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Analysis: Most U.S. funds missed Mexico gains, Brazil drop in 2012

Reuters, 1/2/2013

The two biggest financial markets in Latin America swapped their long-held roles in 2012, with Mexico surging ahead and Brazil lagging, catching many U.S. fund investors in the region off guard. Stocks in Brazil, which had benefited over the past decade from a fast-growing consumer class and Chinese buying of commodities, suffered as the government increased regulation of key sectors of the economy and Asian demand waned. In the third quarter of 2012, Brazil’s economy grew only 0.9 percent from a year earlier, while Mexican growth was 3.3 percent.

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Tale of Two Corruptos: Brazil and Mexico on Different Transparency Paths

TIME, 12/6/2012

There is an increasingly heated debate today about Latin America’s two titans: Does Brazil receive too many kudos, and does Mexico receive too much criticism? For all the ugly press Mexico’s murderous drug war gets, Brazil’s homicide rate is actually higher. Global media fawn over Brazil’s economic boom, but the World Bank finds Mexico a much easier place to do business; it earns more in manufacturing exports and is enrolling a higher number of engineering students.

But Transparency International offers another potential reminder of why Brazil has realized more development, and two times more average economic growth, than Mexico has so far in the so-called Century of the Americas. Bottom line: business and bureaucracy might be easier in Mexico, but in Brazil they’re actually cleaner.

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Effort to Secure Border Crimps Commerce Along It

The New York Times, 12/01/2012

The Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau has been running a media campaign in the Mexican border state of Sonora and its neighbor to the south, Sinaloa, to dispel any notions that Arizona is unwelcoming.

(After Arizona passed its strict immigration law in 2010, the Mexican government issued a warning to its citizens, telling them to assume that they could be “harassed and questioned” in Arizona “at any time.”)

On average, it took 66 minutes to cross the border from Nogales, Mexico, to Nogales, Ariz., in 2008, costing the regional economy about $200 million, according to estimates compiled by Mr. Lee and Christopher E. Wilson of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

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From Darkness, Dawn: After years of underachievement and rising violence, Mexico is at last beginning to realise its potential

Economist, 11/24/2012

THE APOCALYPSE WAS on its way, and it would begin in Mexico. Where else? When archaeologists dug up Mayan calendars that ominously seemed to run out in the final days of 2012, some doomsayers predicted the end of the world. To many Mexicans it seemed like just another example of their country’s unending run of bad luck. The steepest recession on the American mainland, a plague of H1N1 swine flu and a deepening war against organised crime had made the preceding few years fairly grim. In 2009 the Pentagon had given warning that Mexico could become a “failed state”. Armageddon would be the icing on the cake. But it turns out that the Mayan glyphs were misunderstood. The men with magnifying glasses now say that the world is not about to end—in fact, it seems that the Mayans were predicting something more like a renewal or a fresh start. Could the same be true of Mexico?

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Mexico’s new president signs pact with leaders of top opposition parties

The Washington Post, 12/02/2012

Enrique Peña Nieto

Newly inaugurated President Enrique Pena Nieto and top opposition leaders signed an agreement Sunday to increase Mexico’s economic growth, employment and competitiveness.

The leaders of the conservative National Action Party and the leftist Democratic Revolution Party joined Pena Nieto in signing the “Pact for Mexico.” It includes measures Pena Nieto announced during his inauguration, including education reform, pensions for people 65 and older, and concessions for two new national television stations.

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Mexico Shoving Companies Like OGX From Top 500: Corporate Brazil

Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 11/12/2012

Brazil is losing to Mexico in the ranking of the world’s 500 most-valuable companies as economic growth falters in the South American country and President Dilma Rousseff’s interventionist policies erode investor confidence.

The number of Brazilian companies among the world’s biggest by market value fell to 10 from 15 two years ago, while Mexico’s rose to nine from five as the country benefited from an economic rebound in the neighboring U.S., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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Mexico’s Peso Strengthens as China Stimulus Speculation Mounts

Bloomberg, 9/27/2012

Mexico’s peso advanced, following most major currencies higher, as a decline in Chinese industrial profits fueled bets the country’s policy makers will act to stimulate growth, bolstering the global economy

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On the border of opportunity

The Arizona Republic, 8/27/12

Arizona is beginning to see its geography in a healthy new way. A focus on  the economic advantages of sharing a border with Mexico will be good for job  creation and economic growth.

That message was clear from a three-day meeting hosted this week by Arizona  State University’s North American Center for Transborder Studies and the U.S.  Department of Commerce.

The name of the event said it all: “Realizing the Economic Strength of our  21st Century Border.”

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Lee: Arizona must step up its trade with Mexico [op-ed]

The Arizona Republic, Erik Lee, 9/21/12

Our neighbor to the south is an economic powerhouse, currently growing more than  twice as fast as we are. It is now in an even better position to buy products  that are “Made in the U.S.A.”, which in turn means that what’s good for Mexico’s  economy is, in the big picture, good for job creation in the United States. This  positive economic news about our neighbor is largely counterintuitive for most  Americans and an interesting realization…

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild recently went  on a trade mission to Sonora and Mexico City last month, their second this year,  which shows remarkable commitment to this topic. However, there continues to be  a fundamental shortage of resources dedicated statewide for expanding trade with  Mexico.

The outcomes of trade policy affect people through their jobs and their  personal economies. With 6 million jobs in the U.S. depending on trade with  Mexico, we must discuss how to build upon this fortuitous and very large  economic exchange at the national, state and local levels.

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