Fear of bad practices –

MEXICO CITY (El Universal).— The federal government’s proposal to eliminate autonomous and independent bodies for the State secretariats to carry out their tasks “will limit their function to the wishes of the government,” warned the Center for Economic Studies of the Private Sector (Ceesp).

“Bringing them into the government, given their permissive attitude, only generates uncertainty and bad practices,” the institution highlighted in its weekly Executive Economic Analysis.

He added that it is the government’s responsibility to strengthen the business environment and that this requires the existence of autonomous and independent bodies that generate the best market conditions.

The argument used by the current administration to eliminate these bodies is that it must avoid “waste of resources, duplication of functions and improve and modernize public management.”

This will affect the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT), the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece), the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), the National Institute for Transparency (Inai), the regulatory bodies of the energy sector and the National System for Continuous Improvement of Education.

For Ceesp, the proposal will affect the business climate and weaken economic activity, in addition to wasting Mexico’s attractiveness for attracting investments through the phenomenon of relocation (nearshoring).

“The existence of an unattractive business environment in which a lack of transparency prevails, inefficient regulation, a weak energy sector, a deficient educational sector, can undoubtedly cause a significant increase in uncertainty, greater caution in investment, and less optimism about the evolution of economic activity,” he warned.

Mexico’s favorable geographical location must be complemented by an environment conducive to investment, and the lack of sufficient and modern infrastructure, as well as an efficient energy policy, make investors cautious when making decisions, added Ceesp.