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MEXICO COUNTRY STRATEGY UPDATE 1.
Period of coverage The Country Strategy with Mexico covered the period 2002-2006 (document GN-2181-1) and was updated in 2008 through document GN-2477. The Bank is in the process of preparing a new Country Strategy with Mexico, which will be presented to the Programming Committee in September 2010 for consideration. The present CS Update covers the period January 2009 to September 2010.
2.
Approvals during the effective period of the CS Update and their consistency with the areas of the CS The 2002-2006 Country Strategy with Mexico calls for actions in four areas: (i) social sector and poverty reduction; (ii) integration; (iii) modernization of the State and decentralization; and (iv) eliminating barriers to the competitiveness of the private sector. The operations approved during the period of the CS Update were consistent with the aforementioned priority areas and/or with the 2008 update. With respect to said update, two operations, Climate Change I and II, were approved in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The objective was to consolidate the institutional and operational framework underpinning Mexico’s climate change agenda, mainstreaming climate change considerations in public policy, as well as spur the implementation of tools and instruments necessary to implement the climate change mitigation and adaptation agenda based on an operational framework. See breakdown in Annex I.4.
3.
New sector and rationale Strengthening public finances: The objective is to strengthen the sustainability of fiscal policy in Mexico, guaranteeing macroeconomic and financial stability and improving efficiency and transparency in the use of financial resources from the federal government, with emphasis on increasing quality in fiscal and budget management and making tax administration more efficient.
4.
Financial scenario The Government of Mexico has requested from the Bank a program of SG operations for 2010 in the amount of US$4.5 billion. However, that level of approvals is restricted by the current financial capacity of the Bank.4 For the same
4
According to document GN-2442, Mexico received an initial allocation for disbursements in 2010 of US$1.5 billion for its SG operations and therefore its approvals level is being adjusted to adhere to that limit.