07-09-12 by Emmanuel Besserve
Mexico has been classified by the World Bank as an upper-middle income country. However, poverty is widespread, around 44% of the population lives under the poverty line today. What Mexico needs are higher rates of economic growth so that they can get the legitimate economic opportunities that are going to take them to the next level and get people into the workforce.
The Mexican economy actually grew by over 5% in 2010 after the recession that hit most areas in 2009 , when there was the global financial crisis. The peso has been going down in value since 1994, and the governments that have followed since that time have worked to improve the country's macroeconomic principles. Inflation and public sector deficits are now under control, and the current balance and public debt has improved. Mexico has sovereign debt that is still investment grade and has a stable outlook. Mexico has a tax revenue that was 17.5% of the gross domestic product, which is actually the lowest of any of the OECD members.
Mexico is a large recipient of remittances, most of them are sent from Mexicans in the United States. The remittances amounted to $21.3 billion in 2010 and this is the country's second largest source of foreign money, after oil of course. Most of the remittances are used for immediate needs like food, housing, health care, education, but some of them are collective remittances, which are sent from the US community of migrants to the community of their origin. These are used for shared projects and for infrastructure improvements. The government in Mexico has also worked with a flagship fund matching program that is called 3X1 Program for Migrants. The government in Mexico has also worked to implement social development programs to help with the problems that poverty has created.
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Traditionally, Mexico has worked hard to maintain the interests abroad and to work largely through moral persuasion. They have worked to champion principles of non-intervention and of self-determination. Their efforts to revitalize their economy have opened up international competition and they have worked hard to grow relations with the US, western Europe, and the Pacific Basin.
President Calderon has worked hard to better and promote international human rights and democracy and is working to increase the participation of Mexico in international affairs. Mexico is a large supporter of the UN and the Organization of American States. They are very selective in their membership throughout other international organizations; they work through a few ad hoc international bodies. Mexico held the position of Secretary Pro Tempore in the Rio Group, they also held a seat for the UN Security Council, and they hosted the 16th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Mexico has declined to be a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries. What they have done is really work to diversify their diplomatic and economic relations. You will see this being done in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which was created in 1986. They also joined APEC and became the first Latin American member of OECD. They also entered in as a founding member of the World Trade Organization in 1996.
Mexico attended the first Summit of the Americans, which was held in Miami in 1994 and they managed to help coordinate the agenda items on education for the 1998 Summit of the Americas which was held in Santiago, Chile. In 2004, they hosted the Special Summit of the Americas, and in 2009 they participated in the Summit of the Americas. In 2002, they held the APEC Leaders' Meeting in Cabo San Lucas. In September of 2003, they hosted the WTO Ministerial in Cancun and a security conference that same year. In 2003, they were elected to the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors. Mexico has been a key player in the G-20 Summit and even hosted the H1N1 conference in 2009.
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