Fitch shifts Mexico debt outlook from stable to negative

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Fitch Ratings has changed its outlook on Mexico’s long-term foreign-currency debt issues from “stable” to “negative,” citing the potential policy effects of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The leftist Lopez Obrador has tried to smooth anxieties in the business community, but upset many by cancelling a partly built, $13 billion new airport on the outskirts of Mexico City.

The private sector had strongly backed the airport project, but Lopez Obrador called it wasteful. Instead he plans to upgrade existing commercial and military airports.

Fitch confirmed its BBB+ investment-grade rating for Mexican government debt, but said Wednesday “there are risks that the follow-through on previously approved reforms, for example in the energy sector, could stall.”