The Mexican Federal Government has launched 'Plan México,' an administrative simplification strategy designed to accelerate productive investment by digitizing processes and shortening regulatory timelines, elfinanciero.com.mx reported.
The initiative aims to eliminate the bottlenecks currently hindering economic development. Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard noted that the immediate priority is to unblock projects in the short term to meet the demands of the private sector.
“This is an event to present immediate actions to support investment in our country,” Ebrard stated, highlighting that the measures are the result of direct consultations with business leaders and state governments.
The plan includes a decree that will allow for the expedited authorization of strategic investments within a maximum of 30 days. José Antonio Peña Merino, Secretary of the Agency for Digital Transformation and Telecommunications, detailed that projects meeting specific criteria will be able to begin operations once official certification is obtained.
For all other federal procedures, a 90-day resolution limit has been established. If this deadline is not met, the principle of 'fictitious affirmative' (silent approval) will apply, meaning the application will be considered automatically authorized.
Economic Impact and Projections
According to estimates from BBVA México, the full execution of this infrastructure plan could boost GDP growth by an additional 0.9%. Eduardo Osuna, CEO of BBVA México, described the initiative as one of the most ambitious since the era of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, though he emphasized that for a real multiplier effect to occur, the plan must be implemented in its entirety. Furthermore, the financial institution noted that if physical and legal security can be improved, the country could see an additional 0.5% growth, helping to break the sub-2% growth cycle seen in recent years, expansion.mx reported.
Streamlining Energy and Healthcare
The strategy includes the creation of a National Digital Investment Window and a single window for foreign trade that will integrate 132 procedures into a single platform. The new system will utilize a single unified file to prevent the duplication of requirements.
In the energy sector, Secretary Luz Elena González announced that timelines for generation permits will be reduced by up to 60 percent, moving away from processes that previously took 2.5 years toward much more agile frameworks.
Similarly, the head of Cofepris, Víctor Hugo Borja Aburto, assured that simplification within the health authority will achieve reductions of up to 76 percent in resolution times. “This means less uncertainty, lower costs, less downtime, and more capacity to invest,” he stated.
However, experts point to implementation challenges. Pedro Canabal, a partner at Baker Tilly, warned that the new environment demands strict compliance and responsible tax planning from companies.
Brenda Ángeles, legal manager at CASADUANA, observed that the new foreign trade window could be an evolution of the VUCEM (Single Window for Foreign Trade), as the Federal Government indicated it will be available within 15 days.
Finally, Óscar Ocampo, Director of Economic Development at IMCO, linked the measures to a sense of urgency within the current political cycle. “If execution does not begin now... it will be much more complicated to reap results toward the end of the administration,” he concluded.
