Mexico Finance Chief's Outlook on Economy Rosy During S.D. Visit
02/05/2005
David Gaddis Smith, Staff Writer,
San Diego Union-Tribune
Mexico's finance minister says Mexicans who send money back home from the United States are getting better "haircuts."
During a visit to San Diego, Francisco Gil Díaz defined a "haircut" as the amount of money Mexicans pay in transaction costs to send money home through banks and other businesses.
He said such fees had reached 40 percent, but had fallen to an average of 7 percent under the administration of President Vicente Fox. He said he expected the average to fall further.
In a recent speech at the Center for U.S. Mexican Studies at the University of California San Diego, he painted a rosy picture of the Mexican economy, citing exchange rate stability and low inflation. He said 95 percent of tax revenues are paid via the Internet.
When asked by UCSD economics professor Gordon Hanson about Mexico's deficiencies in the field of education, Gil referred to William Lewis' recent book, "The Power of Productivity." He said the book says Wal-Mart is responsible for a large part of U.S. productivity gains. Gil said that could mean that "education doesn't hardly matter at all."
Hanson said yesterday, "I think a lot of us would be skeptical about that answer."
He pointed out that Toyota chose Tijuana as the site of a manufacturing plant for its Tacoma trucks not just because of the city's proximity to the United States, but also because Tijuana has a lot of skilled labor. The plant had its formal opening this week.
A survey published in the Tijuana newspaper Frontera on Monday showed Tijuana and Mexico City tied for first place in Mexico in book reading. The survey said 72 percent of residents of both cities said they read books. Tijuana residents read an average of three books a year, while the average in Mexico was two a year.
Roberta S. Jacobson, director of the Office of Mexican Affairs at the State Department, also spoke recently at UCSD at one of the Institute of the Americas' Tequila Talks.
She cited Fox administration accomplishments in getting a freedom of information act passed and its pursuit of a judicial reform package, which is being enacted piecemeal.
She lamented the Fox administration's inability to get major fiscal, labor and energy reforms passed. She also said the Fox administration could have implemented important economic reforms through executive order, but had not.
