Mexico’s leading business groups have welcomed the Finance Ministry and central bank leadership appointments announced by President López Obrador on Wednesday.
He named Rogelio Ramírez de la O, a consultant and longtime ally, as a replacement for Finance Minister Arturo Herrera, who will be nominated to head up the Bank of México (Banxico), replacing current Banxico governor Alejandro Díaz de León, whose term concludes at the end of November.
Herrera’s appointment as the central bank governor must be confirmed by the Senate.
López Obrador announced last month that he would replace Díaz with an economist who supports a “moral economy.”
The Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex) said the nomination of Herrera “provides certainty and generates confidence.”
The finance minister, who was appointed to that position in July 2019, “was always a very important interlocutor for the business sector,” Coparmex said on Twitter. Herrera’s nomination will provide certainty both in Mexico and abroad, it added.
“We believe that the Bank of México is an autonomous constitutional body, and it’s the job of everyone to defend that autonomy,” the group said in another Twitter post.
“With respect to Rogelio Ramírez de la O, … we trust that he will maintain dialogue with all sectors, including the business sector, and that he will play a good role at the head of the ministry.”
The Business Coordinating Council (CCE), an influential umbrella organization representing 12 business groups, also took to Twitter to acknowledge the announcement, recognizing “the work and commitment of Arturo Herrera at the head of the Finance Ministry.”
The Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin) expressed its satisfaction with the appointments, noting, “The growth of the country needs effective and honest public servants.”
The Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism said Herrera has the credentials to lead the central bank and that his nomination generates economic certainty and observed that Herrera has always been willing to engage with the private sector as finance minister, adding that they hoped Ramírez follows suit.
Such willingness to engage would establish a “direct channel” to the president, which would allow more immediate solutions to problems.
The president said Wednesday that he was announcing Diaz’s successor early to avoid market jitters. He also said that his priorities wouldn’t change as a result of the leadership changes at the central bank and Finance Ministry: no debt, no tax or energy price increases and the poor come first.
López Obrador has already appointed three members to Banxico’s five-person board. Gerardo Esquivel, one of the president’s appointees, celebrated the appointment of Ramírez and the nomination of Herrera.
“[Ramírez] is an excellent economist who will contribute to providing certainty and maintaining economic stability,” he wrote on Twitter. “… [Herrera] is a great economist who understands the importance of institutional autonomy.”
With reports from El Economista (sp) and Reforma (sp)
