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MEXICO

Formal name in Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Capital: Mexico City
Head of state: Felipe Calder?n
Took office: December 1st 2006
Due to step down: December 1st 2012
Languages: Spanish and 62 Amerindian languages
Population: 111,211,789
Surface area: 1,972,550 km2
Currency: Mexican Peso
GDP: US$ 1.143trillion
GDP per Capital: US$ 10,211
2009 GDP Growth Forecast: -7.3

Inflation: 4.9%
Main economic sectors: Services, Industry, Agriculture
Principle Exports: Manufacture Goods, Electronics, Oil and Derivatives, Aircraft, Silver
Value of Exports (2008): US$ 419.9 billion
Largest companies (take from top 500 ranking): PEMEX, PEMEX REFINACION, AMERICA MOVIL, PEMEX GAS Y PETROQUIMICA, CFE, WALMART DEMEXICO, and CEMEX
Top business schools: ITAM, EGADE-MONTERREY, EGADE-ZC, UDLAP, EGADE MEXICO
Poverty (% living on <US$2/day): 4.8%
Education (% of young people in higher education): 27%
Human development index (2008): 0.842 (51st)
Energy consumption: 7357
Sources of energy: oil (55%), natural gas (32%), coal (5%)
 

COUNTRY BRIEF
Mexico’s huge border with the United States has appeared more of a liability than an asset in recent years. In 2007, record corn prices, the result of the growing demand in the US for ethanol, led to riots over the price of tortillas. Meanwhile, Mexico’s huge dependence on the US market, which represents around 75% of exports, means that it has been one of the countries worst-affected by the global economic crisis. Tens of thousands of workers have been laid off the factories and assembly plants which have sprung along the 3000 kilometer border. Finally and most seriously, the battle between criminal cartels to control the cross border drugs trade is spiraling out of control. More than 5000 people were murdered last year along in drug-related violence. President Felipe Calderon’s decision to send in thousands of soldiers to replace federal police, many of which are complicit in the trade, has had mixed results.
On positive note has been the apparent willingness of the new US administration to play a greater role in cracking down on the cartels, partly over fears that the violence is spreading northwards.

 
 
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