Mexico Wants More from Multilaterals

Multilaterals need to show more flexibility and creativity in aiding Mexico and other countries through the crisis, says Gerardo Rodriguez, deputy undersecretary for public credit at Mexico’s finance ministry. “They could do a lot more,” the official says. “These institutions need to prove their worth in current times: supporting sovereigns, supporting financing packages. When you look at the different initiatives in some of the developed markets, we have not seen anything from multilaterals to take them out of their regular lending programs in the order that the current situation requires,” says the official. He adds that there are a number of products that the government has been trying to engage the multilaterals in on a bilateral basis. Ellis Juan, the IDB’s Mexico representative, agrees that more needs to be done, noting the unprecedented scale and speed of the crisis has complicated multilaterals’ response. They were speaking on a panel at last week’s LatinFinance Cumbre Financiera Mexicana event in Mexico City.