a rebound of the european and japanese economies, it is not foreseeable that it will take place in an accelerated - growth context. even under the most optimistic scenario it is not possible to expect, in the medium term, global growth comparable to that of the nineties. hence, the premises on which the development of the mexican economy has been based in recent years should be modified. it will be necessary to consolidate internal sources of growth. the key to success rests in the capacity of the mexican economy to become more productive and more competitive in the international arena. macroeconomic success by itself will not be sufficient to face actual and future challenges. the continuation of progress that mexico has made in the area of competitiveness will depend on the simultaneous success of two factors : reinforcement of the institutional and macroeconomic framework, and implementation of pending structural reforms. there are concerns about the competitiveness of the mexican economy against the rest of the world. as you may know, mexico has fallen in the ranking of some indices that are elaborated by international organizations in order to evaluate competitiveness. however, mexico ’ s competitiveness has deteriorated not because the country has not progressed but because other countries have done so at a faster pace. the most recent case is china, whose exports are gaining share of u. s. external trade at a faster pace than exports from mexico. in order to promote a more favorable scenario, some countries are immersed in legal, economic and institutional reforms. in some instances, these processes have been called “ second - generation reforms. ” but beyond denominations, what is clear is that it is not enough to do things right, nor to do them better than before, but you should do them at least as well as your key competitors. to that extent, it is necessary to find new ways to continuously increase mexico´s productive efficiency. in mexico there are some structural reforms that are needed in order to increase competitiveness. due to the importance they have, i will concentrate on three of them : • fiscal ; • energy, and • labor. the fiscal system in mexico suffers structural and managerial problems that result in a dearth of resources. three of them stand out : • high tax evasion ; • excessive dependence on oil revenue ; and • a narrow tax base. for a long time, fiscal policy has faced the challenge of abating fiscal deficits by reducing expenditures. the lack of public resources, added to the need for containing the fiscal deficit, has resulted in a public investment level that can be classified

##te competitiveness. these do not need congressional approval, and we can mention such tasks as deregulating, promoting and fomenting business activity and improving security. for example, in accordance with recent studies, it is well known that in mexico the average time needed to open a new business is 90 days, while in canada it takes only two. the implementation of structural reforms requires previous political agreements. that happened in canada and in other countries that have successfully completed such reforms. so let me conclude by highlighting the importance of building such consensus in mexico. ladies and gentlemen : in 2002, latin america experienced its worst year in terms of economic growth since 1983, and the region has started to show what some are calling the reform fatigue syndrome. the argument that adjustment policies and structural reforms are counterproductive has also been given, wrongly citing the argentine case. however, this argument can be refuted with evidence from the chilean case. however, it seems to me more useful to concentrate on the mexican case. as i have tried to explain, our economy is stronger and more resistant to external shocks than before. the reason is simple but of great importance : we have implemented deep transformations in many of our institutions, modernizing them and making them more competitive and efficient. in particular, i would like to highlight in this important forum progress that has been achieved in maintaining a better capitalized, more efficient and viable banking system that operates under a modern regulatory framework. nonetheless, it is necessary for this progress to translate to in a balanced renewal of credit, to the end that the people worthy of receiving credit have that possibility. in what concerns the rest of the structural framework of the mexican economy, the road ahead should be traced with a clear understanding of these achievements. we have to take advantage of the opportunities that the openness of the mexican economy with the rest of the world offers. we should not be afraid of international competition ; instead, we should do our best to make mexico a more competitive country. the pending issues on the national agenda make up an ambitious program of economic modernization, tough but promising. we must promote that program without delay and with decision, moving away from regressive claims that only delay our strategic insertion in the xxi century.