Investment: Panama is attractive, Costa Rica too

Panama and Costa Rica did well last year in attracting foreign investment, typically a key driver of growth.

Foreign investment in Panama was nearly 9 percent of the total value of national output, second in Latin America after Chile, according to a report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The figure was 5 percent in Costa Rica, which came in fourth place in the continent, just behind Peru.

This year would be "Mexico's moment", enthused many local and foreign media, following the election last year of the charismatic Peña.

If so, 2013 will need to show considerable improvement over last year, when foreign investment was barely 1 percent of GDP, after declining steadily during the past decade, according to data published in Reforma.

Meanwhile, the Mexican Congress is still debating Peña’s ambitious but controversial plans to reduce taxes, and to open the country’s lethargic state-controlled energy sector to competition.