investment also needs a conducive environment in terms of certainty, rule of law and anticorruption. we have also emphasized the need to tackle these constraints ; especially considering the unique opportunities that have emerged in our country during the last three years : first, the mexican economy has shown remarkable resilience in the face of the onslaught of the pandemic and is positioned in a prominent situation in relation to its peers. the strength of the mexican economy can be perceived in the evolution of the relative stability of the mexican peso. maintaining a sound macroeconomic framework characterized by fiscal discipline and prudent monetary policy has contributed to this positive outcome. second, the ratification and effectiveness of the usmca opens numerous long - term investment opportunities in mexico that promote development in the north american region. finally, the pandemic and its adverse consequences on global supply chains and fragmentation of trade in some regions have highlighted the advantages of " near - shoring " and " ally - shoring " into production chains, which represents unparalleled opportunities to invest in mexico. opportunities are there, but guaranteeing price stability is necessary in order to take advantage of them. at the mexican central bank, we are committed to conducting our monetary policy to converge to our inflation target. in the current complex and uncertain international environment, emerging economies have to act forcefully and with a prudent approach. the sooner the better, but we need to ensure an orderly adjustment of markets to make it sustainable and attractive to investors. now, let me move on to making some reflections on the capital markets in mexico. * * * my main message is that capital markets have great potential, and regulators have been working to harvest it, but there still a lot to be done. despite being the 16th largest economy in the world, mexico occupies the 20th place regarding stock market capitalization and 25th in the number of listed companies. stock market capitalization as a percentage of gdp is 33 %, far below other latin american economies such as chile ( 84 % ), brazil ( 49 % ), and peru ( 42 % ). according to the oecd, the volume traded in the mexican capital market would have to increase six - fold to achieve the size of its economy. nonetheless, since november 2017, there have been no ipos in the mexican stock market. likewise, more than five companies have delisted or have started delisting processes during such period. at the end of 2018, the debt issued in capital

change in portfolio choice, if you will. there is a misperception that the additional inflow of “ fluid ” capital stemmed from excess global liquidity. global liquidity had not significantly increased. as a simplification, think of global liquidity as an ocean. the amount of water is finite. but unusual weather can stir otherwise calm waters into a storm. metaphorically speaking, the new global environment of loose monetary policy and uneven recovery had caused large waves of liquidity to travel from the advanced economies to our shores. capital inflows helped fuel emerging market growth, contributing even more to the uneven global recovery. looking a bit further ahead, as the recovery solidifies in the advanced economies and inflation risk rises in emerging markets, diminishing growth differentials will diminish, spurring volatility in capital flows. choppy waters may be ahead. so i ’ ve given you my view of the current global environment of fluid, if not excess, liquidity. so if excess liquidity is not the main issue, what is? on top of the list we have oil prices, japan crisis and geopolitical risk in the middle east and how these risks interact with global fluid liquidity. which naturally leads me to the next question – what are the global growth scenarios in such a context? bis central bankers ’ speeches in our central scenario or most likely scenario, we see continued global growth. the us and euro area shows signs of a firmer recovery, amid monetary and fiscal stimuli. latest data show strong consumption and production. but structural obstacles do remain ; for example, unemployment and real estate market issues in the us and sovereign debt problems in the euro area. the growth prospects of asian economies remain robust, underpinned by strong fundamentals. however, inflation risk is rising, and fast. on the tragic japan crisis, our current view is that its impact on the global economy should prove temporary. history suggests that japan will quickly rebuild and recover. and the main engines of global growth still remain. the current surge in oil and commodity prices also poses a challenge to global growth, though, we expect the supply shock to have a limited impact due to several reasons : first, increased oil resiliency, second, real oil prices are still lower than its peak in 2008 and third, many emerging markets administer prices to cushion the blow. there is a downside risk that this environment of global liquidity amid uneven recovery and geopolitical risk in the middle east may threaten