Mexico's next leader meets business bosses after testy campaign
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will meet with business leaders on Wednesday, as the leftist seeks to ease private sector worries after an election campaign in which he accused some tycoons of belonging to a “mafia of power.”
Mexico's President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador arrives at a meeting with the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) in Mexico City, Mexico July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
Lopez Obrador is meeting the powerful CCE business lobby, which in March urged him to stop questioning major planks of the current government’s economic agenda, such as a new $13 billion airport for Mexico City. The leftist slammed corporate defenders of the airport project as “corrupt.”
Mexico's President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (R) embraces his top economic adviser and chief of staff nominee Alfonso Romo while arriving at a meeting with the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) in Mexico City, Mexico July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
Since winning a landslide in Sunday’s presidential election, Lopez Obrador and his team have focused on soothing market fears, saying that he would not ramp up spending and would respect the Mexican central bank’s independence.
Mexico’s business community has in turn reached out to try to ease past tensions with the new leader.
German Larrea, chairman of miner Grupo Mexico, published a full-page message in a national newspaper congratulating Lopez Obrador and applauding his comments. In the campaign, he warned staff about voting for him.
Mexico's President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is flanked by the President of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) Juan Pablo Castanon and top economic adviser and chief of staff nominee Alfonso Romo while arriving at a meeting in Mexico City, Mexico July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
Claudio X. Gonzalez, whose family owns part of Kimberly Clark de Mexico, said on Twitter he wished Lopez Obrador the best and asked him to be a unifying figure.
Former President Vicente Fox, who had a tense relationship with Lopez Obrador when he was mayor of Mexico City, also congratulated him.
Lopez Obrador criticized all three during the campaign.
Mexico’s peso on Tuesday posted its biggest daily increase in over two years, boosted by a global emerging markets rally, as well as pledges from Lopez Obrador to not increase spending.
Despite uncertainty about what policies he could put in place, foreign investors have given him the benefit of the doubt for now, eyeing the payout on Mexican bonds, which offer the highest rates of any investment grade country.