AMLO’s austerity has hurt Mexico
The president has put parts of the state on a starvation diet
WHEN ANDRÉS MANUEL LÓPEZ OBRADOR won Mexico’s presidency in a landslide in 2018, he promised to “transform” the country by putting the poor first. Observers assumed he would spend without restraint to bring that about, jeopardising the stability of public finances. But Mr López Obrador, especially early in his presidency, has been an unusually parsimonious populist. He has run smaller budget deficits and built up less debt than most Latin American leaders (see chart 1). During the pandemic, when presidents from Brazil to Pakistan splurged to protect their economies and strengthen their health systems, Mr López Obrador was tight-fisted. Only in the past couple of years has his government raised discretionary spending significantly in real terms (see chart 2).
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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “The parsimonious populist”
From the July 1st 2023 edition
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