Mexico business crime and investment cancellations, Digi Mart USA News: Insecurity led 14.5% of Mexican businesses to cancel investments in 2025 and generated costs equivalent to 0.46% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), with extortion as the most frequent crime, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) reported on Tuesday.
The 2026 National Business Victimization Survey (ENVE) showed that preventive measures taken by private establishments accounted for 51.2% of the economic cost, compared with 48.8% attributed to losses from crimes. INEGI, an autonomous state agency, said the total cost of insecurity and crime to economic units was estimated at 115.1 billion pesos (about 6.208 billion U.S.
dollars), equal to 0.46% of Mexico’s GDP.
Beyond canceling investments, 17.6% of establishments reduced production or sales hours, 19.2% abandoned or minimized the use of cash, 8.2% stopped doing business with other companies, and 5.7% canceled distribution routes. These decisions were made in response to crimes suffered or to prevent them.
Among Mexico’s 32 states, Tabasco had the highest share of establishments canceling investments at 32.1%, followed by the central states of Morelos (27.4%) and Puebla (23.9%).
Extortion accounted for 787,000 cases, 91% of which occurred by telephone, equivalent to 716,000 incidents. Its incidence was 1,467 cases per 10,000 establishments, followed by petty theft (954) and robbery or assault of goods or money (885).
These three crimes accounted for 59% of the total.
