Word: pesos
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...just as suddenly as the financial picture turned sunny, it has clouded over again. Last week the Mexican peso began to gyrate wildly. By Friday its value had settled to about 2,700 pesos to a dollar, down 37% for the week. Supplies of dollars quickly ran out as Mexican citizens lined up at banks to change their pesos. At week's end Mexico's Finance Minister, Gustavo Petricioli, appealed to the public on national television to remain calm...
While a steady devaluation of the peso has boosted exports and helped build foreign reserves of $15 billion, the reforms have produced an annual inflation rate of 130%. Additional cutbacks in public spending are certain to further antagonize Mexico's powerful labor unions, which have grown angry as purchasing power has shrunk by as much as 40% during the past five years. Moreover, Mexico has a foreign debt of more than $100 billion that consumes about $1 billion a month in interest payments. Although a showdown with the labor unions may come, Salinas is expected to follow De la Madrid...
...assembly plants, then paid duty only on the value added abroad when the products were returned to the U.S. For nearly two decades, these exchanges fostered steady but unspectacular growth in border cities such as Juarez, Tijuana and Mexicali. But the trend accelerated dramatically in 1982, when the Mexican peso lost 82% of its value against the U.S. dollar. Mexican wages fell to irresistibly low levels for U.S. companies facing tough competition from Asia...
South Padre Island began catching on with youth in 1982, as the decline of the peso spelled economic disaster for Mexican owners of the island's high- rise condominiums. Many of these units went on the market as short-term rentals. Thus for much less than the $140 price of a cramped hotel room, students can pool their resources for a two-bedroom luxury suite. Because it is only a 30-minute drive to the Mexican border, South Padre Island has benefited as more states raised their drinking age to 21. Last week chartered buses delivered revelers to the cantinas...
...political process has already ensured that the September 1988 presidential election will be a triumph for the party. Even so, cracks are visible in the organization's monolithic foundation. Mexico's economy has been devastated by plunging oil prices, a crushing $100 billion foreign debt and a sharply devalued peso. The crisis has forced the ruling party to impose tough austerity measures that have strained party loyalty. Suddenly the political vogue in P.R.I. circles is to speak of "democratization" and "liberalization," code words that reflect popular pressure for a more open electoral process...