LatinNews Daily - 25 October 2024

*Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has stated that there will still be investment in public works in the 2025 budget despite her goal of reducing the deficit to 3.5% of GDP, down from almost 6% this year. Asked in a press conference about concerns in the industrial sector about a potential lack of public investment in projects in the transport, telecommunications, education, health, and housing sectors, Sheinbaum stated that her government was making a big effort to finish 2024 in line with this year’s budget. She noted that there would be “very little left to pay” next year on the flagship public works of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), such as the Tren Maya tourist railway and Dos Bocas oil refinery. She also said her government was planning new projects such as passenger train lines connecting Mexico City (CDMX) and Querétaro, the capital of the central state of the same name, as well as with Pachuca, the capital of the central state of Hidalgo. She also said her administration is planning investment in a series of highways and strategic works related to drinking water, as well as noting investment earmarked for new social housing. “There is a project, there is a strategy, there is a national plan,” she said. “We are clear about it, and at the same time this will allow us to reduce the deficit by 2025.”