Mexican government gives $5 billion to Pemex for debt

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s finance ministry says it has given the heavily indebted state-owned oil company $5 billion to help reduce its debt.

The finance ministry says the move was “part of the government’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the financial stability of Pemex and enhance its profitability and long-term strategic contribution to the Mexican economy.”

Petroleos Mexicanos, better known as Pemex, also announced Wednesday that it was refinancing some short-term debt and using the government’s latest cash infusion to prepay some bonds that would be coming due between 2020 and 2023.

On Monday, ratings agency Moody’s warned that Pemex’s investment-grade status is in jeopardy.

This week, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposed 2020 budget included 46 billion pesos ($2.4 billion) for Pemex, as well as 40 billion pesos ($2 billion) in tax breaks.