Guadalajara Reporter

Diciembre loco, Enero otro poco.  That’s a way some Mexicans are describing the country’s current economic and political weather, for a number of conspicuous reasons. 1) The peso has recently gained value as two of three leading investment rating agencies (Fitch and Standard & Poor’s) downgraded Mexico‘s sovereign debt, pushing it closer to “junk” level investment, as some Mexican economists are saying the credit rating may be cut further. 2) The Institute of Economic Research at Mexico City’s Autonomous University of Mexico said the nation’s gross national product will show a drop of 7.8 percent by year’s end, that the annual figure of “formal” jobs lost will be 650,000 (a number seen by most economic realists short of reality) and consumer contraction will come in at 8.5 percent (also a rose-colored figure). 3) The firing by National Action Party President Felipe Calderon of the nation’s widely respected central bank governor Guillermo Ortiz after eleven years of directing Banco de Mexico (Banixo) in bringing down inflation from 15.3 percent to 2.9 percent in 2005 and a predicted 5.40 percent this recession-plagued year (the 12-month rate in early November was 3.92 percent).

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