People await a load of gasoline at a gas station in the city of Morelia, Michoacan State, Mexico on January 9. The strategy against fuel theft in Mexico must have an emergency plan to address the shortage in several states, which can lead to a “crisis,” said the President of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), Juan Pablo Castanon. Photo: IC

The Mexican government will invest 20 billion Mexican pesos (about 1 billion U.S. dollars) in bringing banking and internet access to impoverished areas of the country, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced on Monday.

At a press conference, Lopez Obrador said that the Bank of Well-Being project will require an investment of 10 billion pesos to open 2,700 small bank branches across the country by 2021.

"It needs to be taken into account that of the 2,500 towns (in the country), there are bank branches only in approximately 1,000 of them; that is, in 1,500 towns, there are no bank branches," the president told journalists at the National Palace.

The Bank of Well-Being is a new institution that seeks to provide banking resources for the nation's poorest, many of whom, due to their remote locations, often face three-to-four-hour journeys just to reach a financial institution.

The government will invest another 10 billion pesos in a telecommunications company that will bring internet access and phone service to remote areas of the country.

The president said that 3 billion pesos has already been allocated to the new company, which could complete its project by 2022.

According to figures from the Lopez Obrador government, 80 percent of Mexican territory does not have adequate telecommunications services. The president's campaign promises included increasing internet use across the country.