Mexico better placed than peers in macro, fiscal terms - Finance Minister

Mexico will come out of the COVID-19 pandemic much stronger than many of its Latin American peers in terms of its macro and fiscal conditions due to a lack of spending, Mexican Finance Minister Arturo Herrera said on Tuesday.

The government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was austere in its spending and acquisition of new debt to address the fallout from the pandemic, spending far less in relative terms of gross domestic product than many of its peers.

Brazil spent an extra 8.6% of gross domestic product on its pandemic response for instance, while Mexico barely spent an extra 0.6% of GDP, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.