| Mexico's financials are very positive in every aspect, as I said, the economy is booming, there are lots of tall buildings going up, they are spending huge sums on improving roads, airports, new universities, harbours, whle resorts and railways, they are computerizing the public schools in remote areas... Mexico is certainly current with its foreign debt, it is said to have a positive credit rating. We've seen about 3 thousand maquiladoras open or re-open in the past couple of years, they sell Seats and Nissans like hotcakes, everyone has a cell phone, PCs proliferate and everyone has to get the latest flat-screens, we get the top entertainers at the Auditorio and from the Emmys or Grammys too.
The gringoes need to know Mexico has changed, Fox's government was for "cambio" and he has delivered with creces. They've got a soci-populistic mayor in the capital (with 20% of the population) who is spending federal funds like there's no tomorrow. Slim paid Giuliani $2 million to revamp the city police (public safety is a serious problem). Meanwhile the government is competing with investments and improvements all over the place, jobs are generated.
The public safety problem Slim so generously had studied, is a symptom of what is better termed judicial insecurity, where businesses are uncertain of their rights despite access to a laborious, slow and notoriously corrupt legal system. This affects business where clients prevail but cannot collect, where appeals establish no precedent. Notwithstanding these difficulties, there is a positive impact; the government is collecting more taxes, people are purchasing homes, the real unemployment rate is about 3.5%. Oil prices have risen substantially and this is about a third of the GNP (and of the government's budget).
I think its ridiculous to compare Mexico and Costa Rica's economies. |