Off the wire
Canadian stocks inch up due to gains in energy, mining sectors  • Argentina calls for bolstering multilateral trade at WTO meeting  • Spotlight: 4 injured in terrorist attack attempt in New York, suspect nabbed  • Babies born during famine have lower cognition in midlife  • Chicago agricultural commodities settle lower  • Feature: El Cobre, town marks beginning of end of slavery in Cuba  • Italian to be charged with attempting mass murder after hitting people by car  • Construction director arrested for building collapse incident in Mexico quake  • 5th LD Writethru: Four injured in terrorist attack in New York, suspect under arrest  • Tiny satellites to be Finnish flag carriers in space technology  
You are here:  

Mexican economy to face several uncertainty in 2018, says minister

Xinhua,December 12, 2017 Adjust font size:

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Mexican economy will face uncertainty in 2018, from more than just its presidential elections, said Minister of Finance Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya on Monday.

"There is uncertainty on various fronts...this has been said for a long time," said the minister in an interview with Televisa.

Beyond the 2018 presidential polls, Gonzalez Anaya pointed to the tricky renegotiation of NAFTA that Mexico is carrying out with the U.S. and Canada. Another factor is the fiscal reform in the U.S., which is still being discussed north of the border.

Negotiators from all three countries are meeting in Washington this week for special talks, outside the official negotiation rounds, to try and move forward on pending matters where profound differences still exist.

"The other great point of uncertainty is the exit process of Great Britain from the European Union," said the minister, who took the job on Nov. 27, after his predecessor Jose Antonio Meade stepped down to run for president.

Gonzalez Anaya also added that insecurity continued to be a major factor for uncertainty.

He said that, in his role, the best option was to continue the fiscal discipline Mexico has shown. "These conservative policies, fiscally speaking, have been working well."

On Sunday, the Ministry of Finance said that Mexico could reach a new budget surplus in 2018. For 2017, the government predicts it will end the year with a budget surplus of 0.3 percent of GDP, the first surplus in nine years. Enditem