Carlos Slim put a big number on the table: about $5 billion for Mexico in 2026. The pledge came with few project details and several pointed notes on the country’s pressure points, from Pemex production to mobile-line registration rules. For investors, phone users, and anyone watching Mexico’s public finances, the comments sketched out where Slim sees both room to build and reasons to worry. The fine print lies in what he has not yet spelled out.
Slim announces $5B Mexico investment plan for 2026
Carlos Slim said his companies plan to invest about $5 billion in Mexico in 2026, with money aimed at infrastructure, energy, and telecom projects, while also pressing federal officials to revisit a new mobile-line registration deadline.
The announcement came during Slim’s annual press conference in Mexico City. He gave the size of the planned investment but did not give a full project list. Five billion dollars is a headline. The missing project map is where the accounting will eventually live.
Slim said the country needs fresh capital in transport, electricity generation, and water systems. He also pointed to the energy sector, including work tied to the Ixachi field, where companies linked to his group already have about 32 active wells producing around 2,000 barrels a day.
Investment pledge lands as Mexico courts private capital
The pledge fits into a broader federal effort to attract private investment to strategic sectors. Slim said the National Investment Council has kept direct contact with cabinet officials to review paperwork and use a one-stop process for projects.
That kind of language will sound familiar to anyone who follows Mexico’s investment pitch: simplify permits, clear bottlenecks, and get money moving faster. Slim’s version was less brochure and more boardroom shorthand. He described a government trying to promote capital rather than trip over it.
His companies span telecom, construction, finance, and energy, which gives the statement weight beyond a routine corporate plan. Still, the investment figure remains broad. El Financiero reported that Slim avoided saying which projects would receive the money.
Pemex sits near the center of Slim’s warning
Slim also used the appearance to point at Pemex, calling low oil production and the company’s finances among Mexico’s most serious problems. He contrasted current output with the early 2000s, when Mexico produced more than 3 million barrels a day.
El País reported that Pemex’s liquid hydrocarbon output is now averaging about 1.67 million barrels per day, with an annual target of nearly 1.8 million. The company posted first-quarter losses of about $2.6 billion and carried financial debt of about $79 billion, according to the same report.
Those numbers fit the pressure Vallarta Daily has tracked in recent coverage of Pemex’s first-quarter losses and Moody’s downgrade of Mexico to Baa3. Pemex support remains one of the main fiscal clouds over Mexico, even when the government argues that the company can recover through investment and higher production.
Slim said Pemex should concentrate on producing more oil. On fracking, he gave no sign of wanting in. El Financiero reported that he ruled out such projects, saying his group was already saturated.
Reuters separately reported that Slim called the long-stalled Lakach deepwater natural gas project “irrational,” because the same gas could be accessed from land. The field, about 90 kilometers off Veracruz, has an estimated 900 billion cubic feet of gas, but low pressure at an existing well has complicated production.
Mobile registration drew a rare customer-facing complaint
The other sharp point came from telecom. Slim said Mexico should review the mandatory mobile-line registration process, which requires users to link their phone number to a CURP before the June 30 deadline.
Telcel’s own registration page says unregistered lines will be suspended from July 1 until the process is completed. During suspension, users would still be able to call emergency and citizen-service numbers.
Slim said postpaid users were moving through the system, while prepaid users were lagging. That distinction is big in Mexico, where prepaid lines dominate the mobile market.
El Financiero reported CRT figures showing 49,541,262 registered mobile lines as of May 19, with about 95.2 million still pending. AT&T had reached 29 percent of its users, Bait 28 percent, Telcel 19 percent, and Movistar 16 percent, according to that report.
For Mexico’s foreign residents, the issue is practical rather than abstract. Many use prepaid lines, change phones often, or keep older numbers alive for banking and messaging. Vallarta Daily previously reported on the CURP-to-phone requirement and what losing service could mean for users.
Slim’s $5 billion announcement gives Mexico a fresh investment figure to quote. His broader comments point to the harder work still pending: moving capital, fixing Pemex’s production problem, and getting millions of phone users registered before June 30.
