Sheinbaum agrees with the economic policy of this six-year term: AMLO

Mexico City. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Friday that President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo agrees with the economic policy promoted during this administration and is confident that she will continue with it.

“There are those who are waiting for a change, for a step back, for a return to neoliberal politics, but I would recommend that they accept that economic policy will continue,” he said at his daily press conference at the National Palace.

The president stressed that the measures applied in this area during his government “have been effective” and contrary to the neoliberal model: he pointed out that salaries have increased, but inflation has not skyrocketed, while Mexico is the second country in the world with the lowest unemployment rate.

“Mexico is the only country where a different policy is being applied with good results,” he said, noting that during this six-year term, 10 million compatriots have been lifted out of poverty and that both the poor and the rich “have done well.”

“It means that the model, the economic policy is good, it works,” he said.

“The president-elect knows our differences with the neoliberal model, because they are two different, opposing national projects. We are applying a different, new policy, and the president-elect, so that you know, so that you are not misled, has been trained, because we have all done this together, millions of Mexicans have participated in this transformation, and she has participated for years in this true change,” he added.

He said that if his government had not rescued Pemex and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), fuel and energy prices would have risen to double their current costs.

“Since we were successful, what we did was stop the privatizations and rescue both Pemex and CFE, because they were in fact going downhill, heading towards bankruptcy,” he added.

“If privatization had continued, and Pemex and CFE went bankrupt, the price of gasoline would be 40 pesos per liter and the price of electricity would be double what is currently charged,” he said.

He therefore recommended that federal government contributions to Pemex continue, as he said this has allowed the company to reduce its debt and focus on its goal of increasing production.