MEXICO’s corporate lobby has hit out at government measures to promote publicly owned electricity as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Energy Ministry said that the need to ensure reliable electricity supply justified new rules promoting the state-owned electricity company and suspending production at a number of privately owned suppliers. The move prompted protests from the EU and Canada at the weekend that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was “threatening foreign investment in the energy sector.” 

The steps include guaranteeing income for the state electric-power provider and boosting consumption of oil stockpiles.