Economic prospects and policies in Mexico

Abstract

This paper focuses on Mexico's possibilities in the world economy, especially in North America. Any successful policy must reorient Mexico's development away from oil and import substitution and toward exports. Proposed reforms would involve (1) devaluing the exchange rate and unifying the official and free-market exchange rates; (2) liberalizing imports by abolishing import restrictions, eliminating official import reference prices, and reducing those tariffs exceeding 40 percent; (3) reducing the existing bias against exports of the incentive system; and (4) limiting the public sector's influence in the economy by reducing the public sector deficit, liberalizing the financial sector, and denationalizing public firms outside basic industries.