MEXICO: Toward Spending

Mexico's government owns a statist 40% of the nation's enterprises, and its cautiously conservative aim under the administration of President Adolfo Lopez Mateos is "to develop Mexico as fast as noninflationary investment will permit." Lopez Mateos trimmed spending last year to pay off debts left by his predecessor, kept the peso strong at 8¢, kept the cost-of-living increase down to an insignificant 1.2% (U.S. increase: 1.8%). But gross national product, which grew a booming 5% in 1958, climbed only 4%—barely enough to keep ahead of the annual 3% population jump. Now...

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