Claudia Sheinbaum Meets with Secretary of Finance and Public Credit.
The virtual President-Elect of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, and Rogelio Ramírez de la O, Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, met in Mexico City on July 23, 2024. “The Federal Government has healthy finances, the Government of Mexico; and we are already planning the budget for next year,” reported the virtual President-Elect, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
“We are allocating sufficient resources for the train projects, enough resources for water projects, resources for current social programs as well as new social programs, which total around 300 billion pesos. Since the major investments of this year are being completed, these funds can be redirected to new investments. Additionally, we are, of course, ensuring the proper functioning of the Government,” she announced.
She celebrated that during the meeting, which was briefly attended by the director of Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), Octavio Romero Oropeza, topics such as the finances of PEMEX, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), the economic deficit for the country, among other economic issues, were discussed.
“We discussed the state of the Federal Government’s finances, and I can clearly state that the finances are healthy, the Federal Government is doing well, and the government will end its term well. We talked about PEMEX, the Federal Electricity Commission, and also the budget for next year; the budget for next year considers a 3% deficit, which is acceptable for any government. We are not planning significant indebtedness, that is, mainly covering the upcoming maturities, amortizations, etc. This aspect is being reviewed to see how much the budget can reasonably support in relation to GDP,” she specified.
She also added that it is a reasonable budget that will maintain all macroeconomic indicators: "which obviously does not create any risk, nor significant budget deficits, and at the same time, includes public works that generate employment," she added.
In this same vein, she emphasized that there will be responsible management of the Mexican people's money with the proposed budget, which will be presented to the Congress of the Union in November this year and does not consider a tax reform or tax increases.
“I am at ease, and of course, we need to keep working on the budget, but we are not considering a deep tax reform for next year either,” she asserted.
She acknowledged that today Mexico has healthy finances thanks to the economic policy implemented by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, where Republican Austerity and the fight against corruption have achieved significant changes in terms of savings and revenues.
“There was a vision in the past that Republican Austerity and the fight against corruption did not generate resources, and the President has shown that there are indeed resources, and we will continue with a similar policy. Furthermore, there is still room to reduce operating budgets without affecting the government's operation, while at the same time supporting the priority programs we are proposing,” she concluded.