EMERGENCY: Amid the coronavirus shock, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador proposed changes to Mexico’s budget law that would allow the executive branch to redirect money allocated by Congress towards its own priorities in case Mexico would face an “economic emergency”.
• CHANGE: “If during the fiscal year the country were to face an economic emergency, the (Finance) Ministry may allocate the resources held within the spending budget to provide for the execution of the priority projects”, the proposed text reads.
• TURMOIL: Mexico is expected to witness its worst economic recession this year, with analysts at BBVA financial group predicting a GDP contraction of up to 10%. Lower growth and a decrease in foreign sources of income are projected to hit the government’s tax revenues.
• OVERREACH: “In a system of separation of powers, budgetary control is one of the powers that Congress has through the Lower Chamber. It cannot be transferred even in an extraordinary situation such as the health emergency”, opposition Martha Tagle said on Twitter.
