Videgaray says gov’t seeks to raise Mexicans’ life standard
BY MELODY LÓPEZ
The News
MEXICO CITY – Finance Secretary Luis Videgaray said Tuesday that with fiscal reform Mexico will see 4.8 percent GDP growth between now and 2018, and as much as 5.4 percent growth in 2019.
In an interview published in Oxford Business Group as part of its 2014 Mexico Report, Videgaray said that the principle aim of the current reforms put forward by the Peña Nieto administration is to raise the standard of living for Mexicans by means of economic growth and increased production.
Foreign investors will be attracted by a fundamentally strong economy, said Videgaray, and thus contribute to increased growth.
He said that this can already be seen in the financial sector where 16.1 percent of GDP is in foreign accounts and the national deficit reached 1.8 percent of GDP in 2013.
Videgray said that the fiscal reform puts into place a progressive tax system that is designed to maintain competitiveness in the economy. But, given how important it is to maintain tax certainty, the administration will propose no new taxes for the remainder of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s term.
The total tax rate on corporate income tax will be 37 percent, said the secretary, below average according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), including taxes on dividends and reserve capital gains.
He also said that these measures will strengthen internal economics with respect to the national debt, currently 40.5 percent of GDP.
“The goal is to increase growth by reducing business costs so that we can attract foreign investments,” said the secretary.
He said that Mexico is the only member of the OECD without unemployment insurance and that the federal government has proposed a pension guarantee for all Mexicans above the age of 65 who need support after retirement.
No comments:
Post a Comment