Bloomberg - Mexico’s economy grew less than analysts expected in the first quarter, fueling bets policy makers will cut interest rates again this year. Gross domestic product in the first three months of the year rose 0.8 percent from the year-ago period.Economy & Finance
Telecom reform bill clears first hurdle in Congress
Reuters - A major reform bill to increase competition in Mexico's phone and television markets on Thursday cleared its first hurdle when it was approved by a committee in the lower house of Congress with no changes.
www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/15/us-mexico-telecom-commission-idUSBRE92E04920130315
UN finds rising prosperity in southern nations
Associated Press - The proportion of the world's middle class living in developing nations more than doubled between 1990 and 2010 and is expected to rise to more than 80 percent of the globe's total by 2030, a United Nations report said Thursday.
www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/14/3286253/un-finds-rising-prosperity-in.html
Peso rise tests Central Bank's hands-off stance
Reuters - Mexico's peso is scaling new highs amid confidence in the country's reform push, a likely credit ratings upgrade and profit taking after last week's interest rate cut, sparking speculation about how far it will rise before authorities act.
www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-mexico-economy-pesobre92d0h5-20130314,0,7359488.story
Will proposed telecom law impact Slim's richest status
Forbes - Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto's telecommunications reform law could affect Carlos Slim’s status as the world's richest man. The bill grants regulators the power to break up phone and TV providers that control more than 50 percent of the national market.
Construction helps industrial production rebound
Reuters - Mexican industrial production rebounded more than expected in January on a strong bounce in construction after slowing the most in four years at the end of 2012. Industrial output rose 1.1 percent in January compared to the previous month.
www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/12/mexico-economy-idUSL3N0C42HY20130312
Key points in Mexico's telecom, broadcast reform
Reuters - Mexico's government presented on Monday a major reform bill that aims to loosen billionaire Carlos Slim's hold on the telecommunications market and curb top broadcaster Televisa's rule of the airwaves. The following are key points in the proposal:
www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/12/us-mexico-telecoms-details-idUSBRE92A14V20130312
Opinion: Why hype about Mexico should be toned down
Time - I couldn’t be happier that Mexico’s economy is rebounding. But I emphasize: it’s a trend. It’s not the miracle, the economic version of the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, that so many Mexico cheerleaders from government officials to foreign investors to embassy diplomats are insisting we call it.
world.time.com/2013/03/08/mexicos-new-boom-why-the-world-should-tone-down-the-hype/
Mexico pledges to extend supplemental pensions
AP - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto says he will expand a supplementary pension program by lowering the eligibility age to 65. The program currently applies to people 70 and over and gives them a payment of about 500 pesos ($39) a month.
abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/mexico-pledges-extend-supplemental-pensions-18680006
U.S., Mexico, Canada telecom unions gather in D.F.
CNW - Canada's largest telecommunications union has organized a tri-national conference of telecom unions in Mexico City to work on strategies for reversing what they allege is "growing job insecurity and poor working conditions faced by telco workers in North America."
Mexico inflation picks up in February
Reuters - Mexico's inflation accelerated in February for the first time in four months, but the jump is unlikely to dissuade the country's central bank from a possible interest rate cut as it argues consumer prices are in an overall downtrend.
www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/07/mexico-economy-idUSL4N0BZ4ZX20130307
