By IANS
Mexico City : The Mexican government has announced the creation of a National Infrastructure Fund with a corpus of some $25 billion for infrastructure development over the next five years, Spain’s EFE news agency reported Friday.
“We’re determined to make Mexico the leader in infrastructure development in Latin America and among the emerging economies,” President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday while announcing the fund.
He said the fund would be used to finance projects in four main areas: highways, roads and bridges; railways, ports, airports and urban transit; water, irrigation and sanitation; and environmental protection.
Calderon said the fund would help in mitigating the adverse effect on the country as a result of the current “deceleration of the US economy”.
Meanwhile, the finance ministry said the infrastructure capital fund will channel resources via different financial instruments, “such as guarantees, subordinated debt, risk capital and non-recoverable funds”.
The “non-recoverable” funds refer to investments in the poorest areas of the country, the ministry said.