Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest man, gave a speech in which he shared his optimism, foreseeing a ‘buoyant Mexico’ with the opportunity to attract industries relocating to Mexico from China.
Mexico’s richest man Carlos Slim gave an optimistic message to Mexicans during a speech given at a joint event organized by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and the National Autonomous University of Mexico on November 9. Mr. Slim foresees a “buoyant Mexico, with sustained growth, with many opportunities to generate jobs and economic activities.”
One of the reasons for his optimism lies in the opportunity to have industries relocating in Mexico from China.
Mr. Slim explained that the economic tensions between the United States and China create the necessity to find a new country where production can be maintained with limited costs. “Production imported from there (China) has to be produced here (Mexico) because the only way to be cost-effective and efficient is the Mexican worker, who, not only receives much lower income unfortunately but is much more efficient.” The United States is “a service economy, there is no industrial capacity for productivity like in Mexico,” he added.
The man with a wealth of 80 billion dollars in 2022 according to Forbes also thinks Mexico can benefit from the opportunity offered by the geographic proximity with the American market in the context of rising energy and transportation costs.
Moreover, in a comment that seems to praise the current policies of the Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the former CEO of Mexican telecommunications company Telmex, considers the country can enjoy that “public finances are healthy and will remain healthy until the end of this government”.
However, he warns Mexicans’ future will be no short of challenges but hopes the country will not make the same mistakes it already made in the past.
For instance, he pointed out that commerce with the United States grew with past trade agreements but was much lower compared to China. Also, the country lacked economic growth in the last forty years, during which the only way to combat poverty was with remittance sent back from the United States, he regretted.
In September, Mr. Slim, 82, in a letter read to students he had already shared in 1994 about the secrets of his success, lauded optimism because “pessimism leads to mediocrity.”
