1. Deputies approve the 2022 Expenditure Budget

The Chamber of Deputies endorsed the opinion of the Draft Budget of Expenditures of the Federation for 2022 at the plenary session, with 274 votes in favor, 219 against, and 3 abstentions. There are still 1,994 reservations listed by the House Board of Directors. The political parties asked that the Morena Party (the party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador) prioritize economic recovery and pursue autonomous institutions.

The Secretariat of the Budget Commission projects that next year’s budget will have MXN $ 40 billion pesos in surplus because the price of oil will surpass the price of USD $ 55.1 dollars per barrel set in the 2022 Income Law. By law, the Chamber of Deputies has a deadline of November 15 to discuss and approve the opinion.

El Financiero: Presupuesto de Egresos 2022: Diputados lo aprueban en lo general.

2. New meetings between the United States and Mexico

After a 20 month pause caused by the pandemic, Mexican border merchants faced the challenge of meeting the MXN $ 60 billion pesos registration fee for Tijuana, Baja California, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Julio Almanza Armas, president of the Federation of National Chambers of Commerce (Fecanaco), stressed that, during the closure of international bridges, border merchants benefited, because their sales grew, thereby strengthening the economy, as they did not experience foreign exchange flight.

For the first time in five years, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will meet with the President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau at the North American Leaders’ Summit, which will address issues of health security and economic integration. On November 18, the leaders will go to Washington to celebrate the ninth Summit of North American Leaders.

El Economista: Después de 20 meses, Estados Unidos reabre sus fronteras a extranjeros.
El País: López Obrador se reunirá con Biden el 18 de noviembre en Washington.

3. Mexico’s drug supply problem

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stressed that the Ministry of Health must ensure the safekeeping and delivery of free medicine to the entire population by authorized institutions. The President affirmed that the budget, like other administrative functions, has not decreased, so the distribution problem stems from Secretariat inefficiency.

In addition, annual medicine delivery quotas from the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), a United Nations agency specializing in logistics, have not yet been met. This has led to significant delays, as 49% of medicine orders have not been fulfilled.

El Universal: AMLO reconoce ineficiencia en sector salud para resolver abasto de medicamentos.
El País: López Obrador admite el desabasto de medicamentos y exige al secretario de Salud una solución: “Ya no hay excusas”.

4. Inflation increases in October

Consumer inflation figures remain double the Banco de México (Banxico) target range. In October, inflation grew over three consecutive months and reached its highest level since the end of 2017, according to information released by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi). This implies that Banxico will announce a new rate hike at its next monetary policy meeting.

The National Consumer Price Index (INPC) grew at a monthly rate of 0.84%, the fastest rate for October since 1998, when prices increased 1.43%. Annual inflation grew to 6.24%, the highest level for any month since December 2017, when consumer prices increased 6.77 percent. This was driven by an increase in prices of food and electricity, which increased 18.80% in the last month.

El Economista: La inflación no cede; en octubre se ubicó en 6.24%.

5. The social perspective of Mexico in the Security Council

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador proposed a “World Plan of Fraternity and Wellbeing” to the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) to allocate resources to 750 million vulnerable people. The funds would be obtained through voluntary 4% contributions from the thousand richest people on the planet; a similar contribution from the world’s largest private corporations; and 0.2% of G20 countries’ GDP. The proposal has not yet been presented to the United Nations General Assembly.

Data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) indicate that Mexico’s middle class decreased from 53.5 million people in 2018 to 47.2 million. Gerardo Leyva, Inegi’s Deputy Director General for Research, affirmed that Mexico is becoming a country predominated by its lower classes.

Expansión: México promoverá ante la ONU el Plan Mundial de Fraternidad y Bienestar en 2022.
El Universal: Dejan clase media 6.3 millones de mexicanos: Inegi.