MEXICO CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd September, 2020) Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has presented a plan to reactivate the region's economy in the amount of $5.3 billion, under which the city will create 300,000 jobs lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We estimate private investment at 75 billion pesos [$3.45 billion] over the last five months of this year and the first months of next year to create 300,000 jobs," Sheinbaum said during the presentation of the economic program, which was broadcast on the city government microblog on Twitter.
In addition to private funds to be channeled into government-approved infrastructure projects, another 40 billion pesos ($1.85 billion) will be allocated from the Federal and city budgets.
Besides the construction and renovation of urban infrastructure, the authorities intend to carry out a comprehensive renovation of the historic city center, invest in safe tourism, digitalization of services for small and medium-sized businesses, waste recycling, as well as support for the population in the form of social guarantees and loans.
The metropolitan area has been hit hardest by the novel coronavirus disease's pandemic, including economically, due to the high population density and high concentration of businesses closed for a 4-month lockdown. About 100,000 cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the city, 10,591 people have died from complications.
Mexico's case count stands at 606,036, with 65,241 deaths and 501,722 recoveries, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic on March 11.
According to the WHO, the global coronavirus death toll has surpassed 852,000 people, with the number of cases worldwide exceeding 25.6 million.
In line with Johns Hopkins University's data, the global case tally tops 25.9 million, with over 860,000 deaths and more than 17.2 million recoveries.
