AMLO contracts 46% more foreign debt – The Yucatan Times
Mexico City, (April 5, 2021) .- In the first 26 months of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration, the federal government’s foreign debt increased by US $ 22.3 billion, 46% more than that generated during the same period with former president Enrique Peña Nieto.
In terms of amount, the difference between the increase in debt of AMLO and EPN is over US $ 7 billion.
Carlos Vázquez Vidal, analyst at the Center for Economic and Fiscal Research, pointed out that five factors contributed to the increase in the government’s external debt: debt amortization, support for Pemex, lower interest rates in at the international level, the drop in budget revenues due to Covid-19 and the lack of adjustment in public spending.
“The government has announced a measure for the Treasury to issue debt instruments for Pemex in order to pay off its debt, because Pemex has lost its rating and it is more difficult for it to obtain financing, and at the same time it is more Dear. So what we see here is a decrease in the debt of Pemex and an increase in that of the federal government. “
He also said that the Treasury has preferred external financing a little more than internal, because of the drop in international interest rates and the access that Mexico has to these markets.
Finally, he added that maintaining budgeted spending on government priority social programs and infrastructure projects over the past year as revenues declined, put pressure on debt.
Within the external debt, stand out the loans granted by the World Bank, totaling 3.8 billion US dollars, a figure 53% higher than the financing received by the same institution during the entire term of Enrique Peña Nieto.
In Peña Nieto’s government, the World Bank granted 17 loans for a total of US $ 2.3 billion.
Among the credits granted by the institution in the current federal government, a billion dollars stands out, the objective of which was to provide liquidity and put in place instruments to strengthen credit in the face of the pandemic.
In total, looking at both the outside and the inside, the federal government increased its debt by US $ 75.5 billion, 67 percent more than the increase reported during the same period. of the Peña Nieto administration.
Héctor Magaña, analyst at Tec’s Center for Economic and Business Research in Monterrey, stressed that the economic contraction the country suffered last year and the depreciation of the exchange rate would increase the debt-to-GDP ratio.