The Americas Economy

With its central location complemented by strong transport connections that link the state both to the large consumer market of Mexico City next door and destinations further afield – including ports that provide access to imports and exports – it is no wonder that Hidalgo is promoting its transport links as a key incentive for businesses...

Centrally located and right next door to the large consumer market that is Mexico City, Hidalgo is ideally placed to benefit from its access to key markets across the country, as well as the ports that open access to markets around the world. National development preceded unevenly over recent decades, however, and the state has slipped into...

In November 2017 Grupo Modelo – part of global brewing giant AB InBev and Mexico’s largest beer maker – announced plans for its eighth brewery. The proposed project, to be developed in the municipality of Apan, is by far the biggest private investment ever to be made in Hidalgo, at MXN14bn ($756.6m).

Of all the sectors deemed as strategic for Hidalgo’s economic development, chemicals and pharmaceuticals are perhaps the least explored territory. Unlike the well-known centres of Guadalajara and Cuernavaca, Hidalgo did not have any pharmaceutical laboratories, for example, when the current government took office in 2016.

For decades the state government has prioritised the development of the automotive industry, and these efforts have led to it becoming a vital sector for Guanajuato. As such, it is now recognised as one of Mexico’s great economic success stories. “Until 1991, when General Motors arrived in Silao, the state’s economy was mainly based on...

Economic expansion in the north-central state of Guanajuato outpaced that of the nation as a whole in 2017, registering GDP growth of 4.5%, compared with Mexico’s rate of 2.1%. Overall, Guanajuato reported the sixth-highest increase in per capita GDP of any state in Mexico between 2013 and 2016. The state’s per capita GDP increased by 5% over...