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“Quién” magazine interviewed Carlos Slim a few weeks ago. Our sister magazine shares what he talked about the economy, the crisis and what is he doing from their companies to overcome the crisis.
How do you see Mexico now?
Worldwide the situation is very difficult. There is a crisis of international banking and financial institutions, fortunately not ours. And still not achieved stability. In Mexico, it is going to affect us as well as all over the world, but we are in better conditions. The financial system is fine; the macroeconomics and public finances are healthy. Steps are being taken globally and nationally and they are being taken for the capacity in the country, counter-measures.
What is your environment Outlook?
We are still down around the world. The trick is to stabilize global financial institutions. When they are stable and flowing and normalizing in the credit, things will change in a major way. United States, as some European countries were countries which consume a lot for many years ago and had a negative savings. This means that they had to have an outside funding. (...) And now people in America are changing the position of consumers to savers. And it's healthy to start on correcting their individual positions, which together are meaningless demand and lower consume. So the first effect (it has) is to reduce the excessive imports from America and so is having much effect on those countries with exports of major consumer goods, European and Asian countries, especially.
Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel?
I think there is good news and bad one. The good news is that all governments and institutions in the world are concerned and are taking joint actions with some harmony, coordinated, reviving the International Monetary Fund, which had previously been some kind of a collector and adjustment, now is promoting support just like the World Bank and BID. And the bad thing is that, despite leading for a year and a half, the problems of financial institutions are not stabilized yet. I think that obviously this year is going to be difficult, probably also next year.
I think the programs that the president established the National Agreement for the Welfare of the Family and Employment-are very important. The important thing is to run as fast as possible to avoid social problems. The worst of a financial crisis is not what happens to financial institutions, which themselves may be important, but the effects on the real economy in the daily life of the person.
Carso´s reaction
"We have made real estate projects as we have never done before in the Group (Carso), a lot of dimension and a large direct and indirect employment. Group companies continue to invest all. Combined, or consolidated, is a significant growth in employment that is giving the Group, but primarily through the real estate and construction. (...) The important thing here is what happens in the crisis, how it impacts on the crisis, how to deal to mitigate these impacts and how we want to get out stronger of the crisis stronger.
And how we get stronger from the crisis? Well, if we focus many of our resources and directed them to some needs, like for example, the formation of human and physical capital. Whether the construction of roads, hydroelectric plants, airports, ports.
(...) It is very important also to make an extra effort in the infrastructure maintaining (...), from not having anywhere potholes, fixing roads, to have the road signs well, clean the sides of roads, maintenance of roads or the entire urban infrastructure: fix schools, office buildings, government, private, and the maintenance of the entire national infrastructure or hospitals is very interesting because almost all the money that goes there is substantially hand work and the materials are purchased are national and that has effects across the country. It is not a single region, is not a place, it is throughout the Republic with a direct, immediate effects in the employment”. |
