Mexico can tap $10 bln to address coronavirus, president says

Mexico will be able to tap around $10 billion from various funds and trusts to alleviate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday. Mexican gross domestic product is expected to suffer a sharp recession this year due to the crisis, and Lopez Obrador said he would lay out the "basic guidelines" of a plan to lift the economy in an address to the nation on Sunday.

On Thursday, the government said it would wind up a series of funds and trusts that would free up funds. "We can collect in total, just from trusts and funds, around 250 billion pesos ($10 billion)," Lopez Obrador told reporters at a regular government news conference. "It helps us, plus other saving measures that I will explain on Sunday."

The finance ministry, in a report used to guide the budget, said this week that among the "buffers" for the economy is some $6.6 billion available as of the end of 2019 in the Budget Revenue Stabilization Fund. Lopez Obrador has promised to focus his response to the coronavirus outbreak on helping the poor.

($1 = 24.9610 Mexican pesos)

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