At a time when very few emerging markets are passing structural reforms – and some developed countries are in gridlock because of a lack of political agreement – the changes that are being undertaken in Mexico are not only a rarity, they are overwhelming in terms of their scope and potential.
Over the past 18 months, Mexico’s Congress has reformed the country’s labour market, passed a constitutional change to curb the powerful public teachers union, stripped public officials of immunity from criminal prosecution, introduced a telecommunications bill that limits the quasi-monopolistic powers of the country’s biggest telephone company, increased competition and transparency in the financial sector, and, at the very end of December 2013, broke the 75-year state monopoly in the energy sector – a game-changing reform that many had thought would never happen.