• NINE MONTHS Amid a rising crime wave and a stagnant economy, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador used his first official state of the union address to double down on his austerity and anti-corruption promises but accepted that security remains the main challenge.
• GROWTH “The economy is growing little, it’s true. But there is no recession. Little by little we must discard the technocratic obsession of measuring everything based on simple economic growth”, AMLO said while last month Mexico’s Central bank slashed its growth forecast to between 0.2% and 0.7% in 2019
• SECURITY “We still have to work hard because the results are not good in terms of reducing the incidence of crime in the country. The problem is being addressed but it remains our main challenge”, AMLO, Mexico’s National Public Security System reported 17,608 murders in the first half of 2019 with the country on track to surpass the all time high figure of 29,111 in 2018.
• HONEYMOON Like other Mexican Presidents in their first year in office, López Obrador enjoys a high approval rating with 70% of Mexicans saying he is doing a good job according to Grupo REFORMA’s most recent national poll done last July.
