Yesterday afternoon, the Mexican Institute for the Community released data indicating that Petróleos Mexicanos has received between January 2019 and June 2023 a total of approximately 1.49 billion pesos, an amount that translates from direct transfers, to reductions in its tax burden, as well as other types of support for its financial statements. This means that Pemex has received an injection of almost 806 million pesos per day. IMCO believes that the current administration's efforts to recover Pemex's productive capacity and improve its financial situation have not achieved their objective.
Although the intentions to rescue Petróleos Mexicanos are broad, this also represents a high opportunity cost, since other types of national projects have been neglected, and beyond the economic cost that this means, the federal government's strategy to strengthen the oil company seems to many to be somewhat risky, The truth is that the resources that have been destined for the oil company are being transferred to projects that are currently of great relevance for the country, such as the construction of the Olmeca Refinery, the rehabilitation of the National Refining System, as well as the strengthening of the company's fertilizer chain and the acquisition of the Deer Park Refinery, as well as the payment of its financial obligations.
Finally, IMCO points out that in the event that the Chamber of Deputies does not reallocate the budget and approves the 2024 Federal Expenditure Budget, the Federal Government will transfer an additional 170.9 billion pesos to Pemex during the following fiscal year in the form of capital contributions for the payment of its debt and the financing of its investments. According to the Institute, the 107.9 billion pesos that will be transferred to Pemex during 2024 are equivalent to 3.4 times the estimated budget for the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in the PPEF 2024, established at 50.4 billion pesos, as well as 2.2 times the budget assigned to the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) (78.5 billion pesos) or 1.8 times the budget of the Ministry of Health (97.0 billion pesos). In addition, the Mexican government's commitment as de facto guarantor of Pemex's debt by recognizing as its own the financial obligations of the oil company may negatively affect the sovereign credit rating, with the fiscal implications that this entails.
