Can Mexico be given a clean bill of health?

Can Mexico be given a clean bill of health?

Mary-Therese Barton, senior investment manager at Pictet Asset Management, analyses if the Mexican government's determination to implement its structural reforms and maintain economic stability is helping or hindering the market.

Social unrest has caused headaches for President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office in Mexico two years ago.  At the time, he pledged to end drug-related violence, which is estimated to have cost the economy more than 17% of GDP and killed around 100,000 people since 2007. Now, however, he may be just as preoccupied with the impact of falling oil prices on the economy. The lower oil price has hit Mexico particularly hard as a third of its government budget is funded by energy exports. According to economists, a 50% decline in oil prices reduces the country's GDP by 0.9 percentage poi...