Lack of security costs Mexican private sector US$9bn in 2011

Issues with crime and a lack of security cost Mexican companies 115bn pesos (US$9.02bn) in 2011, 0.75% of GDP, according to the latest statistics from the national institute of statistics and geography, INEGI. The total cost represents 56,774 pesos per company, with some 37.4% of all Mexican companies falling victim to at least one crime during 2011, according to the report. However, given the number of crimes that go unreported, the true percentage of companies affected by crime is thought to be far higher, at around 88%. Some 59.3% of companies also believe that insecurity and crime is the largest problem that they face. The commercial sector was the worst affected, with 41.6% of companies reporting a crime, followed by the industrial sector with 36.6% and the services sector with 32.7%. Large companies were hit the worst, with 63.1% effected by some sort of crime, while extortion, theft of goods and corruption were the most common reported. The worst affected states included Sinaloa, with an average of 5 crimes reported per company, and Morelos, with a reported 4.3 crimes per company. Companies spent an estimated 47.4bn pesos on crime prevention measures including the installation of locks, CCTV, the hiring of security guards and insurance. In May this year five distribution centers belonging to PepsiCo's Mexican subsidiary Sabritas were firebombed and a fleet of delivery trucks set alight. The attack was, according to security experts, indicative of the rising levels of transport crime and extortion across the country. This was the first attack against a major international company that was made public.