relative telecoms prices has deepened, and service providers have increased the variety of packages offered. in fact, competition between operators focuses increasingly on the speed and quality of data services provided through both fixed and mobile means. another encouraging sign is the interest of international players in the mexican market. 1 to turn to our second focus, the energy sector has also suffered from high prices and frequently, insufficient supply. crude oil production has been declining continuously since 2004. inadequate pipeline infrastructure has limited lower - price gas imports, as well as lower - cost, more efficient distribution. electricity prices in mexico remain well above those in its key trading partners. 2 behind these problems lie decades of state control, with little or no benefit from outside participation. the energy reform seeks to confront this reality by allowing private participation in virtually all aspects of the sector. this includes public bidding for oil and gas exploration and production contracts, and permits for production of oil products and petrochemicals, transport, storage, distribution, and sale of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon products. also, permits are to be granted to generate and sell electric power, as well as import electricity using mexico ’ s national electric system. 3 the reform contemplates a wholesale market for the purchase and sale of electricity, with retail operations also possible. electricity transmission and distribution remain in the hands of the state, with the outsourcing of private contractors permitted. for an analysis of recent price developments in the telecom services sector, see banco de mexico ( 2015 ), informe trimestral, octubre - diciembre 2014, box 1, february. the negative impact of the inadequate infrastructure of the gas pipeline system is illustrated in banco de mexico ( 2013 ), inflation report, july – september 2013, box 2, november. the national electric system is mainly composed of the national transmission and general distribution networks, the power plants that deliver electricity to the national networks, and the equipment and facilities used to control the system itself. bis central bankers ’ speeches as to oil and gas exploration and extraction, four different types of contract are on offer, namely licenses, profit - sharing, production - sharing, and services. in the first three, private companies can register the value of the expected profits backed by the contracts on their books. in the wake of the so - called round zero in which pemex applied for certain fields and was allocated some of them, the first round of public bidding has begun. two auctions have been announced, one for exploration

the major benefits of globalisation is that emerging and also developing countries are increasingly involved in the exchange of goods and capital and can benefit from the transfer of know - how and technologies. especially emerging markets have, over time, become major global trading partners as well as recipients of financial flows. some of them, especially in asia, have turned into nearly industrialised countries with decades of growth rates above those of high - income countries, and they have themselves become sources of international capital flows. over the last four years, these roughly 20 emerging countries in latin america, eastern europe and asia have accounted for about 30 % of world exports and received about 20 % of gross global foreign direct investment ( fdi ), a figure which is close to the fdi inflows into the united states. greater integration also means greater economic and financial spillover effects from one country or one region to the rest of the world. some of these effects are positive, while others are less so. the main positive spillover, as i see it, is that the global economy has benefited from the strong growth in many emerging market economies, especially in asia. china has become one of the main growth engines, not only for the region, but worldwide, contributing to about one - third of world gdp growth on average over 2000 - 2003 ( in ppp - terms ). moreover, capital mobility and financial integration allow savings to be invested on both the national and global scale, thereby increasing economic efficiency and promoting growth. what about the challenges? globalisation and capital mobility also makes the international system more vulnerable to changes in investor sentiment. on several occasions we have witnessed contagion effects spreading from one country or one market to others. some of these crises originated in the public sector, such as the debt crisis during the 1980s, which started with poland and mexico and spread to latin america, africa, the middle east and the soviet union, the mexican crisis in 1994, the asian crisis in 1997 / 1998, the russian crisis in 1998, and the more recent crises in brazil, argentina and turkey. others, by contrast, stemmed mainly from events in the private sector, such as the stock market collapse of 1987, the bond market crash of 1994, the near - failure of the large hedge fund long - term capital management ( ltcm ) in 1998, the stock exchange fall and the bursting of the technology bubble in 2000. despite their differences in origin, nature and magnitude, all these events had one thing in common : they represented major