If Mexico can do it...

Mexico's Treasury department submitted a tight budget for 2005 to Congress yesterday, calling for the public sector deficit to drop to 0.1 per cent of gross domestic product, down from 0.3 per cent this year... However, there has been cross-party consensus on the need for a tight budget, and the deficit has fallen as a proportion of GDP each year. Francisco Gil Diaz, the Treasury minister, also retains powers to make spending cuts during the year if there is a risk that the deficit target will not be met.

Note that these budgets are based on the assumption of a steep drop in oil prices, which for Mexico is not a "rosy scenario." Here is the full story.