Enterprises report 5.5% increase in crime, says Mexico's statistics agency

35.5% of Mexican enterprises fell victim to some sort of crime in 2015, up from 33.6% in 2013, which is a 5.5% increase according to the results of the 2016 National Survey on Company Victimization revealed by Mexico's statistics agency, the Inegi.

According to the survey, 1.6 million enterprises reported an estimated 4 million crimes during 2015. 14.6% of companies say they've stopped investing in the private sector as a result of crime.

The most common crime continues to be theft of merchandise, cash, supplies and goods. This crime alone has increased by 28.7% since 2013.

Extortion has surpassed shoplifting to become the second most common crime and has increased 34.3% since 2013.

Crime cost enterprises an average of 57,779 pesos (around 2,800 dollars) in 2015, compared to 55,739 pesos in 2013. However, for large enterprises, these costs fell from an average of 1.8 million pesos (around 87,000 dollars) to 1.4 million pesos, a 22.8% decrease, compared to a striking 43.9% increase in crime-related costs for small enterprises.

Lastly, according to the survey, 57.4% of enterprises believe that insecurity and crime are the main problems they face today, followed by consumer's low purchasing power with 39.2% and a lack in government aid with 33.5%.