Public debt in Mexican states now rises to MXN$568 billion

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Out of all 32 of Mexico’s federal entities , 31 account for an overall state public debt of MXN$568.9 billion , according to a Public Debt report issued during the third quarter of 2018 by the Center for Public Financial Studies (CEFP) at the Chamber of Deputies.

Added to said amount are also MXN$68.45 billion pesos in debt payments and investment payback, as well as MXN$119.57 million in short-term liabilities , suppliers, and contractors.

Tlaxcala was not taken into account

, since it does not depend on financing, nor has it taken on obligations registered on Public Registries.

The results of the Federal Entities’ Warning Systems are given with data from the Public Account, as well as additional quarterly information.

Some of the entities that showed the highest debt were: Mexico City, with an amount of MXN$88.38 billion; The State of Mexico, with MXN$57.5 billion; Chihuahua, with MXN$49.2 billion; Nuevo León, with MXN$48.82 billion; Veracruz, with MXN$41 billion, and Coahuila, with MXN$36.8 billion .

The CEFP pointed out that three out of four states (a total of 24) presented a sustainable and relatively low level of debt compared with their unrestricted income .

The states that showed the lowest debt levels were Querétaro, where debt amounts to 13% of their income; Guerrero, with 18.6%, and Aguascalientes, with 25.4% .

These numbers are in contrast with Coahuila, the state with the largest debt percentage . While they have a debt of MXN$36.8 billion, it represents 183.9% of their unrestricted income , which amounts to barely MXN$20.9 billion.

The excessive debt of states such as Coahuila and Veracruz is mostly due to corruption during past administrations. In the case of Coahuila, the former PRI governor Humberto Moreira was accused of embezzling MXN$600 million between 2005 and 2011 , whereas his brother , who was also governor of Coahuila from 2011 to 2017, was accused of embezzling MXN$390 million . Both are still at large.

In the state of Veracruz , former governor (also from the PRI) Javier Duarte , was trialed for embezzling at least MXN$223 million through a criminal network.