Mexico will confer tax and regulatory breaks on the country’s largest food processors and retailers in an effort to bring down food prices.
The package of benefits will include breaks on import taxes for supplies and exemptions from quality checks by health inspection agencies. Participants include Walmart, tortilla maker Gruma and egg and chicken producer Bachoco.
The government "will suspend the review of any regulation” that impedes the production or transportation of food, Mexican Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez de la O said in a statement quoted by Reuters.
The tax and regulation breaks are part of a larger drive begun by the Mexican government in May to tamp down food inflation. Those policies sought to keep down prices for 24 necessities, including tortillas, rice, milk and bread.
The government says the drive has been successful so far, but critics note that many Mexican consumers buy food at small marts instead of big retailers like Walmart.
