Mexico is going to better every year; It is a country that has advanced a lot

Year after year Mexico is going to bettersays Ana Botín, president of Santander, one of the 15 largest banks in assets measured by assets. President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government’s policies are adequate to face the challenges that the world has in the economicsuch as the United States tariff threats and the expectation of lower global growth, he says in an interview with The day.

On Monday, Ana Botín met privately with President Sheinbaum in the National Palace. The Santander executive announced an investment in Mexico close to 42 billion pesos, just over 2 billion dollars, for the next three years, the largest that the financial group will do in the whole of countries in which it operates. As part of those investments, yesterday began operating OpenBank, the totally digital bank of Santander and one of the firm’s biggest bets on a global scale.

Ana Botín expresses that Mexico’s main challenge is to accelerate growth levels. It emphasizes that President Sheinbaum has very clear what workssuch as sanitizing and maintaining stable public accounts, a fortress that is reflected in the national currency, the weight. He points out that the Mexico Plan, through which the Federal Government seeks to expand infrastructure and strengthen the national productive plant, will serve to counteract the effects of tariffs that US President Donald Trump can apply at some point.

In the talk, booty, one of the most powerful women on the planet, is optimistic about the future of Mexico and reveals that many of its clients have a high interest in specifying investments here.

Regarding the global environment, he warns that The world will grow less in this decade than the previous one grew. Therefore, it states that governments must maintain a globalization policy, which, despite not being perfect, has brought millions of people out of poverty.

–Mexico is subject to a pressure from the United States government, the world is somewhat scrambled. What impression is taken from this visit to Mexico?

–All countries are going through the same thing about the issue of tariffs. There is a trend, not only in the United States, but in general, to look more inside and less open to globalization.

“Mexico is very well located in an environment that will undoubtedly be very different from a few months ago, for many reasons.

“First, because of the country’s demography, they are young, they have people with a very high level of preparation and better and better. In addition, all the investments that have been made in terms of supply chains will give very good results.

There is much interest of our clients to invest in Mexico, not only the great firms, but also the medium (companies) of the United States and Europe, and that is what is needed: investment and creation of jobs. That is what will bring progress.

– Is it less interest in investing in Mexico?

– No, on the contrary.

“It is true that uncertainty makes people retract and investment is delayed, but in the context of other countries and other regions, in Mexico it is less the effect than others and that is what matters.

The American continent is where we are investing most and Mexico is one of the countries that receive the most investment from the group.

– He was on Monday with President Sheinbaum, as he has been with other Mexican presidents previously. What is the opinion of leadership in Mexico?

– We work with all governments and it is something we will continue doing. If the country is doing well, we will do well to us.

“We are very involved in the development of Mexico and the communities where we operate.

“The meeting with President Sheinbaum went very well, we communicated our intention to invest in the next three years more than 40 billion pesos in different areas, including OpenBank. He liked that a lot.

The fact is that we are also with OpenBank in the United States, in three months we have reached more than 2 billion dollars, more than 50 thousand clients and we will be the only digital bank that will be on both sides: Mexico and United States, with capacity, at the end of the year, to make instant transfers between the two countries.

– Do you have any difference in how things are, compared to other visits that you have made to the country?

–Mexico every year will better in the total. The country has advanced a lot, the institutions, the Central Bank. When we had inflation, the independence of central banks, including Mexico, was the big difference with previous times.

“What is needed is to accelerate growth and what I see about the president is that it is very clear about what works, it is very clear that the sannelled public accounts are very important. It is the same as we have seen in the previous six -year term and is seen in the strength of the weight, that is what it reflects.

If we want more private investment to create more jobs this is key, these policies remain the ones that will allow the country to grow faster and the management is correct.

– Are you conditions in Mexico so that uncertainty dissipates?

–Preaccir what governments will end is very difficult, especially that of the United States. At this moment nobody knows.

“There is a tendency to look more inwards, this is something that causes economies to grow less. Therefore, the approach that the president has with the Mexico Plan, to look more at the sectors, more to the microenterprise, is very important to compensate part of what we are going to stop growing, because some tariffs will happen.

How is that lower growth compensates? With more support for both national and foreign private investment, more jobs of higher quality, that is very important and differential in Mexico.

– Does Santander are interested in the Mexico Plan?

– What I know, the infrastructure approach, that is basic, because the infrastructure allows small, medium and large companies to develop their activity. There is another approach to small business, it is very important and we will see how we collaborate.

We have in Santander Mexico and in the global platforms that can be very complementary for what is being worked on in the Government of Mexico and we have made it available. Global platforms and team here in Mexico can collaborate and have customers and a business center that can be very useful.

– What risks perceive internally and external?

– At an external level the risk is that this look inside is too much and lead us to an inflation and low growth situation, as we have already seen in other times.

“We have been able to get out of very high inflation, Mexico did it quite well, it has been a fairly soft landing.

“The risk is that this growth continues to go down the tariffs and at the same time we have higher inflation due to structural issues and we have to avoid it.

“The Mexico Plan can help compensate part of that lower growth with the focus on infrastructure and companies.

“The world will grow less in this decade than the previous one grew. What is clear is that globalization is not perfect, but has taken millions of people from poverty. If we really look at it as a global photo, it is something positive; Of course, it is not perfect, there are differences between countries, people and sectors, but without growth there is no progress.

Another thing is how it is distributed and distributed well, but we need to grow faster and that is the risk of the world: we will grow less, and governments seek ways of how to support the private sector so that there is more investment and compensates part of that risk that is very real.