The head of Mexico's employers' association reported that crime and insecurity cost the country's businesses $5.8 billion annually, underscoring the enormous financial impact of criminal activity in the country.

Juan Pablo Castañon, the leader of employers' association Coparmex, said 37 percent of Mexican companies had been victims of crimes including extortion, corruption, robbery of merchandise or kidnapping, reported Latin American Herald Tribune.

According to Castañon, business in the states of Tamaulipas, Michoacan and Guerrero have been the most impacted by organized criminal activity.

Castañon suggested the government coordinate federal and state forces under one command structure to combat criminal activity, an approach he said had worked in the cities of Tijuana and Juarez on the US-Mexico border.

InSight Crime Analysis

Although criminal organizations in Mexico use a variety of methods to take money from companies, extortion is particularly common and on the rise. According to a report issued by Mexico's National Citizen Observatory (pdf), overall extortion in the country increased by 818 percent between 1997 and 2013, with 8,042 cases reported last year.

Read more