A country’s spending is the fundamental tool for the State to implement its fiscal policy, with three essential functions: allocation of resources to provide public goods and services; income distribution aligned with what society considers most fair or egalitarian; and the stabilization of the economy, by mitigating variations in economic cycles, in addition to contributing to economic growth, employment and price stability, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The 10.2 billion pesos that the country will spend to pay for social programs and public services, such as health, education and security, are just over 550,607 million dollarswhich barely represents the 5.8% of spending executed in the United States at the end of August this year.
With the money that Mexico will allocate to cover its public spending next year, in the United States it would be enough to cover spending for nine months on the program for services and benefits for veterans, for 372.6 billion dollars, and for education, for 174.2 billion, according to figures from usaspending.gov
Compared to the second economy in the world, which is China, Mexico’s public budget would be enough to cover this nation’s spending on research and development (R&D), which was greater than $506.41 billion in 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
R&D spending represented 2.69% of China’s GDP in 2024, while in Mexico, that same year, it represented 0.68% of its GDP.
Compared to economies that are closer to the value of Mexico’s GDP, Spain reported public spending of 578,183 million euros at the end of 2024, close to 11.4 trillion pesos. Mexican public spending represents 89% of the Spanish total. With important differences in their population, 132.3 million people live in the Latin American country, while 49.4 million live in the European country.
In 2024, Spain’s public spending represented 45.5% of its GDP, according to figures from the Secretary of State for Budgets and Expenditures. In Mexico it represented 27% and it is expected that by 2026 it will be 26.1%. In South Korea it represented 22.53% of its GDP in 2024.
