Mexican peso weakens as next president vows to forge ahead with 20 reforms - and adds a couple more

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican peso continued to weaken Tuesday as Mexico’s outgoing president — and his successor — vowed to forge ahead with some 20 c onstitutional changes that have rattled investors.

Claudia Sheinbaum won this month’s presidential election. But she has spent much of the time since then trying to reassure markets, while yielding not an inch on a controversial proposal to make judges and justices stand for election.

Sheinbaum claimed Tuesday that “investors have no reason to be concerned,” adding “to everyone who invests in Mexico, I say that (legal) certainty exists.”

Critics have claimed that outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to eliminate regulatory and oversight agencies and weaken the judicial system to reduce any checks on presidential power.

Sheinbaum said Monday she endorsed submitting all of López Obrador’s reforms when Congress returns in September. Sheinbaum even added a couple more yet-unfunded benefit programs to the list of proposed Constitutional changes.

The peso declined by about 1% Tuesday to close at 18.49 to $1. The Mexican currency has dropped about 11% in value against the dollar since late May, especially after the June 2 elections. Mexican stocks closed unchanged Tuesday, but remain about 4% below pre-election levels.

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