Mexican update

…public finances have rarely been in better shape. Thanks to policies
put in place by Ernesto Zedillo, who presided over the country during
and after the tequila crisis at the end of 1994, the budget is balanced.

In
2000, it was still running a budget deficit equivalent to 1.1 per cent
of gross domestic product. Net public debt, meanwhile, has fallen
consistently and is now just 23 per cent of GDP. Moreover, much of the
external debt was swapped for peso-denominated debt during Mr Fox’s
administration.

This year, net external debt accounts for roughly
7 per cent of GDP compared with 24 per cent in 1995. “It has all become
boring,” says Damian Fraser of UBS in Mexico City. “But that is fine.
We love boring.”

Even inflation, which has started to creep up
again after it dipped below that of the US for the first time in 2005,
still appears to be under control.

Consensus forecasts from the private sector suggest it will finish the year at about 3.85 per cent.

Here is much more.  But no, one correction is needed, Mexico is never a boring place:

Mexico’s country music stars are being killed at an alarming rate – 13
in the past year and a half, three already in December – in a trend
that has gone hand in hand with the surge in violence between drug
gangs here.  None of the cases have been solved. All have borne the signs of Mexican underworld executions…