Enrique Pena Nieto gets stars from The Economist

Enrique Pena Nieto’s quarterly report card from The Economist is riddled with satisfactory grades for maintaining the competitiveness of the peso and keeping growth rates up. These, in the first four months of his tenure, are more economic prospects than what had previously been bargained for as the preceding administration drew some gloom with its violent drug wars.

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However, the incumbent gets some red marks for waffling on the decision to privatize parts of Pemex, the state monopoly on petroleum, to enable productivity in the energy sector. The President’s initial programs for economic reform had focused on pushing Mexico’s oil and gas potential to a steady takeoff. This huge promise is proving slow to materialize and easy to recant, but it’s early yet.

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In terms of leadership, The Economist also noted a more diplomatic approach on the part of PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party), Pena Nieto’s party, in engaging the opposition, which has, in turn, quietly accepted the transition. An air of political stability wafts, periodically hosed down by vestigial violence from the drug wars instigated by former President Felipe Calderon.

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So far, highlights of the young administration’s stint in power complement glowing economic forecasts for Mexico, and it may be beginner’s luck on Pena Nieto’s side. But if his party’s experience is to be counted on, he could have stretched out this political stability past other difficult reforms.

A comprehensive summary of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s accomplishments is on his official website.