The elections held in Mexico on Sunday, June 2, 2024 generated, as always happens during election time, nervousness in the markets.
The Mexican peso depreciated 4.27 percent against Friday’s reference price, trading at 17.71 units per US dollar at the close of markets on Monday, June 3, 2024.
The national currency recorded its worst session since March 2020 after Claudia Sheinbaum won the presidential election and the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) and allied parties were set to dominate Congress, which is why markets fear deep reforms to the Constitution.
A loss of the peso against the dollar like the one today has not been seen since the times of the covid-19 pandemic. Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING, said:
“The question is whether Morena has done so well as to have a supermajority and try to implement constitutional reform policies that are not friendly to the market.”
Claudia Sheinbaum has promised to continue the legacy of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who during his term increased the minimum wage, reduced poverty and lowered unemployment levels, successes to which he added social programs.
In February, López Obrador proposed constitutional changes, including to the pension system, the election of judges and councilors of the electoral authority, and the elimination of autonomous bodies, something seen by investors as detrimental to the business climate.
Source: milenio
