Guanajuato to Surpass US$5 Billion Investment Goal

Guanajuato remains one of Mexico’s top regions for the automotive and transport industries. Ramón Alfaro Gómez, Minister of Sustainable Economic Development (SEDES), said that the state will exceed its 2H22 goal of attracting US$5 billion in investment this month. 

During this year’s edition of the Transport Logistics Forum, Alfaro highlighted the role of public policies in the development of the transport and logistics sectors in the state, as they have played an essential role in achieving the state’s investment goal before the end of 2022. The forum aims to open a space to generate key alliances between the most important actors in the state to strengthen the region’s competitiveness.  

"When we talk about logistics and transportation, there is no doubt that what has happened in Guanajuato in recent years has not resulted from luck; it has been a work with vision, the result of an economic development policy of continuity," said Alfaro.  

Industrial clusters play a key role in Guanajuato. However, the state needs equilibrated and sustainable development across the whole region, as most of its industrial capabilities are concentrated in its most populated city, Leon. Guanajuato dropped to the 18th place in competitiveness, according to the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), when the region “used to be in the top ten,” said Alfaro.

Alfaro emphasized that the automotive sector is the region’s top job generator, adding that a 1 percent GDP increase for 2023 is expected despite the economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “For the past four weeks we have announced an average of two world-class investments per week, and that is how we will close out this year,” said Alfaro, according to Cluster Industrial. 

Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) policies are critical to Mexico’s development, as the country has unique opportunities for trade within the North American region. Investment and financial service firm Morgan Stanley suggests that the global economy will enter a “slowbalization,” which would increase the frequency of trade among regional partners. “The direction of public policies should be oriented to provide security for investments, strengthen the rule of law, provide reliability to infrastructure and support the skills of human capital,” as reported by MBN.

Guanajuato’s top investors this year include Continental, which invested US$209.5 million in October to expand its assembly plant, as reported by MBN. Other major investors include Nestlé Purina with US$103.6 million, German cable company Harting with US$19.5 million and Japanese company Denso with US$9.8 million.