Refinery may get part of $10 B U.S. financing aid
Part of a $10 billion investment in aid and loans pledged by the United States for Mexico and Central America could go to Mexican infrastructure projects including a new oil refinery, a senior Mexican official said.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday that the funding, which he discussed with White House senior adviser Jared Kushner this week, would seek to mitigate the causes of migration in Central America and Mexico by generating more jobs.
Most of the funds, at least in a first stage, would go to projects in Mexico because its plans are more developed than those in Central America, said Jesus Seade, the undersecretary for North America in Mexico’s Foreign Ministry.
In December, Washington committed $5.8 billion to development in Central America, while increasing public and private investment in Mexico via the Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC) by $4.8 billion.
On Wednesday, Lopez Obrador talked about $10 billion.
OPIC is a U.S. government agency that aids infrastructure projects in developing countries. Mexican officials are also aiming to secure private funding for the refinery.
“With OPIC, we’ve progressed a lot in finding ways for them to participate in specific areas of President Lopez Obrador’s flagship projects... (including) the refinery,”
OPIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lopez Obrador has gone out of his way to
The Mexican government on Monday invited several companies, including American firms, to bid on the $8 billion construction of the new Pemex refinery on Mexico’s southern Gulf Coast.
The decision to build Mexico’s seventh refinery, meant to help wean the country off fuel imports, has been questioned by credit
Seade, who helped re-negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement last year, said the United States had expressed interest in the refinery but that Mexico was still working out how such funds could be used for the project.
He also mentioned a
“I think an agile and rapid resolution is possible. ... It depends on when we decide to follow a certain direction, but yes, it can be resolved in a month, without a doubt,” he said. (Reporting by Sharay Angulo Writing by Daina Beth Solomon Editing by Leslie Adler)
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