Overview: Mexico

Some readers may know that González Calvillo has uninterruptedly partnered with The Legal 500 in sponsoring the Private Practice Powerlist: US-Mexico for several years. Looking back, each of the issues from 2017 onwards contained widely distinct business messages from our firm, ranging from record-breaking transactional work and law firm profits on 2017, to the forced adaptation of the Mexican economy to geopolitical changes in 2018, and finally the stagnation of our economy in 2019 due to a series of erratic decisions by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his administration. Market uncertainty and increasing concerns for investors were well underway at the outset of 2020. But cliché as it may be, nothing could have prepared anyone for what was about to happen this year.

Here we are, then, in the midst of 2020, facing what is now clearly the most severe global economic debacle since the Great Depression, let alone the vast human tragedy. By the time we write these words, we already know Mexico will not fare well from COVID-19. While developed countries across Asia, Europe and North America have already installed rescue and recovery plans of inconceivable dimensions -mostly aimed at saving small business who are primary sources of employment-, our government has opted to stay stale, basically. Experts have already pointed to the potential loss of Mexico’s investment grade by 2021, likely depending on the results of the midterm legislative elections coming next summer.