By KEVIN RICH
Special to the PRESS
The City of South Padre Island Economic Development Corporation (EDC) heard a presentation on the state of the Island economy as well as a report by the Friends of RGV Reef in its Sept. 20 meeting.
Dr. Mostafa Malki with Aaron Economic Consulting presented a report entitled “City of South Padre Island Economic Index, September 2016.” In his opening remarks he stated, “I’m glad to report that the Island is doing fine even though the economy of Texas is slowing down. It’s not tanking, but it’s slowing down because of low oil prices and a very strong dollar relative to our big trading partner (Mexico).”
He further stated that Mexico is feeling the crunch of this big drop in the value of the peso due in large part to the increase in the strength of the U.S. dollar. He also cited the fact that the peso is the most widely traded currency of the emerging countries, and speculators and investors tend to use it to hedge their bets as a contributing factor to the devaluation. The report further states that the appreciation of the U.S. dollar negatively impacts Texas and U.S. exports as well as Mexican visitors to the U.S.
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