The Mexican peso added to losses Tuesday as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador doubled down on the importance of a judicial reform that critics fear would erode checks on the country’s ruling party.
The outgoing leader described the constitutional change as “urgent,” saying it could be approved before his term ends on Sept. 30. The currency weakened 1.2% against the US dollar as of 3:40 p.m. in New York, lagging all other emerging-market peers.
“This is about having a true rule of law, which is what the investors want, not the speculators. True businessmen want true rule of law,” AMLO, as the president is known, told reporters early Tuesday. “Do you think there isn’t nervousness in financial markets I’m going to be an accomplice to corruption in the judicial power? That we are all going to be accomplices?”
His remarks came on the heels of a Monday news conference by President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, in which she said the government should prioritize the reform but called for it to be discussed widely by law schools and workers of the judiciary. On Tuesday she addressed the matter again, saying the changes could build a better judicial system.
The peso, which had been one of the best currencies in the world, has been sliding since Sheinbaum was elected in a landslide on June 2. Her Morena party obtained more support in Congress than investors expected, fueling concerns that lawmakers, whose terms start in September, will push through AMLO’s package of reforms even before she takes office in October.
Source: El Financiero