Foreign Direct Investment in Mexico Reaches Record of $34.968 Billion in First Half of 2026

ByFernanda Monroy

This article by Fernanda Monroy originally appeared in the August 26, 2026 edition of Contralínea, a Mexican investigative magazine.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reached $34.968 billion during the first half of 2026, a figure that President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo presented as a great economic indicator.

During her morning press conference, the president highlighted the growth of foreign investment since 2018, and linked the behavior of this indicator with the increase in the minimum wage recorded during the last few years.

She noted that, between 2018 and 2026, the minimum wage rose 154 percent in real terms, going from around 2,800 pesos a month to more than 9,500 pesos a month.

The president recalled that, before these increases, there were warnings that higher pay for workers would cause inflation, reduce investment, or generate a depreciation of the peso. In her judgment, these arguments were used to hold back wage increases.

We have a record in Foreign Direct Investment. We have a solid, strong peso.

President Claudia Sheinbaum

In addition to FDI, the president highlighted figures related to the labor market. According to the data from the National Occupation and Employment Survey that she presented during the conference, Mexico reached 60 million employed people for the first time.

The head of the federal Executive also noted that the Gross Domestic Product recorded growth during the second quarter of 2026, after expectations of a weaker performance of the economy had been raised for months.

Likewise, another of the indicators mentioned was household consumption, which recorded growth between April and May of this year.

In the automotive sector, the president reported that the sale of light vehicles reached 885,000 units, while she highlighted the behavior of the exchange rate.

According to the figure shown during the conference, the dollar stood at 16.97 pesos, a level that the president of the Republic described as evidence of the strength of the Mexican currency.

When presenting the indicators, she maintained that the results contradict the forecasts that warned of negative effects stemming from the increase in the minimum wage. She also affirmed that Mexico maintains inflation levels lower than those recorded during part of the neoliberal period.

The data presented by Sheinbaum Pardo show a scenario of growth in various economic indicators during the first half of 2026. With these figures, the federal government maintains that the Mexican economy is holding a favorable performance despite external pressures and the forecasts that anticipated weaker growth.