Mexico's rainy-day fund

The sovereign-wealth fund is a good idea—now it just needs some wealth to manage. The FMP’s executive coordinator spoke to Petroleum Economist

"We have a very explicit mandate—to make sure the general Mexican voter is aware of what is happening to these hydrocarbon resources that actually belong to all Mexicans." Carlos Lever Guzmán, a macroeconomist, is talking about the sovereign-wealth fund (SWF) he runs—the Fondo Mexicano de Petróleo para la Estabilización y el Desarrollo (FMP). No one can doubt the fund's aims are noble—especially in light of lingering popular opposition to the sweeping energy reforms launched by Enrique Peña Nieto four years ago. Transparency, says Lever, is at the core of the FMP, itself a creature of the reforms. Like much else in Mexico's big upstream opening, though, the FMP is in something of a holding p