The risk aversion of Mexico’s private pension fund administrators (Afores) is impeding growth, the head of pensions watchdog Consar told a webinar.

“They have lots of resources, but local projects, which could be growth boosters, are lacking,” Iván Pliego Moreno said during a webinar organized by Nuevo León’s economists college.

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Pliego claimed Afores only choose ‘AAA’ investment projects as apparently ‘BBB’ ones “are not that attractive for them, so the investment regime must become more flexible which will be more profitable in the long term and boost the generation of employment.”

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Pliego said Afores investment funds (Siefores) poured 95.7bn pesos (US$4.63bn) into highway infrastructure.

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Consar vice president Julio Cervantes Parra said of this total 88.9% came from private national debt and the rest through structured instruments like capital development certificates (CKDs), Fibras, and fiduciary stock certificates (CERPIs). Projects that were financed this way include the Monterrey-Saltillo and the Monterrey-Cadereyta highways.

According to Consar, 10,580km of road infrastructure was built and maintained through these instruments at an average construction cost of 9mn pesos.

Referring to the sale of Citibanamex’s Afore, Pliego said the process will begin in March and “we will be overseeing it to avoid bad repercussions within the sector.”

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