Slim Offers Plan to End Underdevelopment
 El Universal
| | Carlos Slim, the fourth richest man in the world. |
Carlos Slim, the fourth richest man in the world, said Mexico can stop being an underdeveloped country over the next five years at "escape velocity" if it reaches a per capita income of US$10,000.
"If these conditions prevail and we don´t make big mistakes, over the next five years we can break out of underdevelopment´s gravitational field with an escape velocity of around US$10,000 per capita," the entrepreneur told a conference of engineers.
Slim, a Mexican businessman with a fortune of some US$23.8 billion according to the U.S. magazine Forbes, is owner of telephone companies Telmex and América Móvil.
The entrepreneur said that to overcome underdevelopment in the country, it would be necessary to reach an annual economic growth of more than 5 percent and have in place an investment program that increases per capita income by some US$7,000.
He said "there are favorable external and internal conditions and we have to think about moving from stability and adjustments to accelerated, sustained, sustainable development and employment."
Slim added that "physical capital has been, is and will be a necessary condition for development, and is at the same time its cause and effect."
He added that a sustained investment of more than US$65 billion per year is needed, representing about 8 percent of GDP.
In his meeting with the engineers, Slim announced the creation of a Mexican Engineering Support Fund to speed development "with public and private resources," which will be managed by a Technical Council to ensure that the funds can be recuperated so they can be used to finance other projects down the road.
"We engineers are the ones who should and are going to lay down an ambitious program of construction and modernization of our infrastructure with substantial transformations as soon as possible," Slim said.
The entrepreneur, who is the main promoter of the Chapultepec Accord that promotes investment, employment and development, said that resources are needed from (state oil company) Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, for construction, electricity, health, education, water, the environment, tourism, air transport, highways, railways, telecommunications, seaports and airports.
Slim said Mexico has a sizeable accumulation of funds in banks and financial markets, capable of financing future reforms with long-term loans at low interest rates.
In addition to managing Mexico´s top two telephone companies, Slim is a majority shareholder of both Grupo Financiero Inbursa and Grupo Carso, a consortium that operates close to 100 industrial and commercial companies.
In Mexico alone, Telmex has 16.8 million land lines in service, 2.9 million data-transmission lines and 1.6 million Internet subscribers.
For several years, the company has expanded its operations throughout Latin America, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru.
América Móvil, which separated from Telmex in September 2000 to devote itself to the wireless telephone market, has set out to conquer new markets in the Americas.
The company has consolidated its market share in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, in addition to the United States and Guatemala, and has increased assets in its affiliates in El Salvador, Argentina, Brazil and Nicaragua. |
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Business News | March 2006 
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