At that time, Mexico knew and used all the tricks to defer payments, as well as to obtain generous refinancing. From that time comes the phrase: “In credit restructuring, bad faith is presumed”. Of course, she could reside in any of the parties, but, in the end, one gained an advantageous position, while the other remained the same or worse than it was.
Some of the parties ended up regretting it, the one who extended the amount and/or term, who finally turned out to be delinquent, or the one who made a mistake in the calculation, and ended up agreeing on credit conditions that assured the creditor a generous return, above what was reasonable. Put simply, this will continue to happen, since government debts have been designed to be serviced, and not to be liquidated.
Mexico has been, and is, a specialist in the field. It has had prominent figures who, although they do not clearly explain the destination of the enormous sums collected, have been thorough in designing complex narratives that seem to excuse the balance at the end of each six-year term. Our country has been a reference in schemes, modalities and mechanisms tending to compromise the income to come, without this having meant a better situation for our fellow citizens.
We have experts who have always found a source to put out the fire, even if it adds to the national problems the following year. What is income one year, generates interest payable the next, and thus, has been accumulating to the enormous liabilities reported by the public treasury.
Everything seems to indicate that the finance minister’s message has ended up deepening concerns, or that, at least, it is far from dissipating them, so it seems that silence would have helped him more than the hasty presentations that his team has made. Elaborated. When you come to power with a group that has been trained in criticism, and not in proposals, it is difficult to render convincing accounts, making it easier to resort, once again, to the questionable redoubt of blaming those who preceded in office. .
Prepayment is fine for those orderly, disciplined and successful government apparatuses, which after a while generate surpluses, surpluses or margins, and not for those that present a scandalous deficit. While it is true that the majority of the ruling party will have no problem having their finger played in their mouth, with an unpresentable forecast of the price of the Mexican mixture, the reality is that this no longer passes the test of laughter.
It is also unacceptable to say that the prepayment is intended to address a temporary adverse scenario, since the advance does not promote a better debt service profile in the medium term, but only deals with the seventh year, yes, that in which the outgoing president faces the harshest criticism, and in which not only his political judgment, but greater responsibilities are discussed. It is clear that the problem of debt service has not been addressed seriously and responsibly, and that we are faced with an avalanche made up of works and services that will not be profitable, and possibly not even viable.
For anyone moderately versed in the matter, it is a device that tries to prevent it from becoming evident next year that the management of public debt is, and will be, a disaster. Given that it will be fiscal resources, completely unrelated to the financed object, that will have to rescue the bureaucratic adventures known to all. Undeniably, the debt has grown, but the main problem is its poor quality, both in destination and in its implementation.
The IMF line is not a savings account, it is another source of debt. Swaps are another way of borrowing, neither of them are a solution, but rather a burdensome deferral of the problem. Don’t help us Secretary.
Parliamentary carelessness is simply unforgivable; resources were allowed to be channeled into projects of fanciful spectacularity that will not provide resources to honor the financial burden they represent, and, even worse, it is highly possible that they will not report the vaunted social benefit either.
In the 19th century, López de Santa Anna agreed to sell national territory in exchange for a large sum of money. Some say that it was not covered, and others, that it was distributed as war assets between the military and high officials. The fact is that the enormous amount that deprived us of half of the national territory disappeared like water, or even did not even reach the public coffers.
Today we see, painfully, that the rescue of Petróleos Mexicanos is not only insufficient, but will be fruitless, ineffective and inefficient. It is possible that it will help maintain the deficient operation of the unproductive State company, but what is certain is that it will not be an expenditure that will pay off for more than five years. This administration’s big bet has been ruinous.