Mexico's flagship plan aims to harness the business sector for national goals

Mexico's flagship economic plan, 'Plan Mexico', aims to boost growth, raise wages, and reduce poverty through collaboration with the business sector. It has approved private projects worth $3.5 billion, but a new report warns that cuts in public investment could undermine the plan's objectives.

Mexico's government flagship economic plan, 'Plan Mexico', announced in January 2025 by President Claudia Sheinbaum, aims to boost growth, raise wages, and reduce poverty through collaboration with the business sector. It established a 'fast track' for approving investments aligned with national goals, and the business umbrella organization CCE reported approval of projects worth $3.5 billion. The track requires at least 20% of the investment to be spent on procurement from local suppliers, and compliance with one of three conditions: investment in a development area, in a strategic sector such as semiconductors, or at a scale of at least 2 billion pesos. The plan aims to address low productivity and extensive exports that have not translated into growth, and to raise the investment rate in the economy to over 25% of GDP. However, a report by economists Mariana Mazzucato and Lara Merling warns that a 28.4% cut in public investment in 2025 undermines the plan's goals, and that the government is acting in a vertical rather than horizontal approach.