MEXICAN BUDGET AND INFORMATION TRANSPARENCY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 001006 SENSITIVE, SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/MEX, WHA/EPSC STATE FOR EB/IFD/OMA - ALEX WHITTINGTON TREASURY FOR IMB B MURDEN, W MONROE AND M BEASLEY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EFIN MX SUBJECT: MEXICAN BUDGET AND INFORMATION TRANSPARENCY LAWS SET HIGH STANDARD ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The access to information law passed in 2002 represents a vital element of the country's democratic transition and set a new international standard for transparency legislation. The new budget and fiscal accountability law passed in 2006 also represented a considerable improvement for assessing fiscal practices. This law forced all government agencies to release significant information, such as their budgets -including income and expenditures-, audits to the budget conducted by the agency, independent auditors or the Congress. This information is available in the Finance and Public Credit Secretariat's and in each of the government agencies' Web pages. The law also requires the government to issue monthly and quarterly reports on its revenues and expenditures to the Congress and imposes sanctions to those government officials who fail to provide the information or who spend public resources ineffectively. The challenge for Mexico now is to continue cultivating a culture of openness and ensuring that transparency laws are fully and properly implemented. End SUMMARY. TRANSPARENCY LAW OPENS PUBLIC FILES TO THE PUBLIC -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Although former National Action Party President Vicente Fox failed to pass broad structural reforms -energy, fiscal, labor, etc- during his tenure, he succeeded in advancing transparency in Mexico. In 2002, Fox issued a new Transparency Law aimed at increasing the government's accountability before its citizens by providing them with information never released to the public before. The law forced all government agencies and Secretariats to release significant information, such as their budgets, including incomes and expenses, audits to the budget conducted by the agency, independent auditors or the Congress, government officer's salaries, goals, organizational charts, etc. ¶3. (SBU) This information is available in each government agency webpage under the field 'Webpage of Transparency Obligations'. The law created the Federal Institute for the Access to Public Information, which was charged with processing the public's requests. The law only forbids the release of classified information when it jeopardizes national security, international negotiations, economic and financial stability, or criminal and judicial cases. CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATION TO RELEASE INFORMATION -------------- --- ¶4. (SBU) The Congress approved in 2007 a new paragraph to article 6 of the Mexican Constitution in order to give access to public information to anyone interested in obtaining it. This article states that all the information owned by the federal, state and municipal governments is public and that it can only be temporarily reserved for reasons of public interest. The agencies that fail to provide information to the public will be sanctioned according to the law. ¶5. (SBU) The amendment was a significant step forward in terms of acknowledging the fundamental right to gain access to public information. Although this reform was a positive step in the right direction, observers opine that a second generation of laws is needed to open the government's information even further, such as expediting the process to provide the information to the public, improving the quality of the information provided through the Internet, including more detailed information, explaining in detail the government's performance indicators and how they are measured, as well as aligning local governments' standards to the Constitution and transparency law. IMPROVEMENTS IN BUDGET TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY -------------- -------------- ¶6. (SBU) On March 30, 2006 the Executive issued in the Official Gazette the new Federal Budget and Fiscal Accountability Law to replace the old budget law enacted in ¶1976. Among other things, the law set new accounting rules and a catalogue of budgetary items, as well as transparency MEXICO 00001006 002 OF 003 and accountability criteria. The new law included mechanisms to measure the government's performance and established sanctions and responsibilities for government officials. A new budget law which included transparency and accountability criteria was required to force the government to make an efficient use of public resources and to make it accountable for any misuse of public funds. It is also aimed at ending discretionary spending by including performance indicators. ¶7. (SBU) The Federal Budget and Fiscal Accountability Law includes a whole chapter -Title V, articles 106 thru 111 about transparency, reporting and evaluation of public expenditures. Article 106 establishes that the management of public funds should comply with the provisions set in the Federal Transparency and Access to Information Law. Article 107 in particular mentions the Executive's obligation to submit a monthly and quarterly report to the Congress, and which basically includes the following: --Economic situation and public finances --Tax and non-tax incomes, oil-related and non-oil related incomes --Programmable and non-programmable expenditures --Public debt --Contingent liabilities and financial requirements --Advancement or achievement of goals and their social impact In addition to the Congress' supervision, the Secretariat of the Public Function verifies every two months the evolution and results of the government's income and expenditures. ¶8. (SBU) The Federal Budget is divided in the Revenues or Income Law, which has to be approved both by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and the Expenditures Law, which is approved by the Chambers of Deputies only. Both laws are published in the Official Gazette 20 days after being approved by the Congress. As mentioned in paragraph 7 the Executive sends monthly and quarterly reports to the Federal Superior Auditor, the Congress' supervision and control entity. INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THE GOVERNMENT'S FINANCIAL REPORTS -------------- -------------- ¶9. (SBU) These reports can be found in the Finance and Public Credit Secretariat's webpage: www.shcp.gob in the Public Finances field. The report includes charts with information on the fiscal balance, surplus or deficits, income, expenditures, domestic and foreign debt, and an explanation on the performance of each item, as well as a comparison with the previous year. The Public Sector's Programmable Expenditures are presented in a separate chart divided by Secretariat and government goal's, such as the item of interest to us in this cable "Orden, Seguridad y Justicia" (Order, Security and Justice). It also includes expenditures and percentage of evolution of the government's main programs, such as the program to implement raids or operations for criminal detention and crime deterrence. ¶10. (SBU) Detailed information, such as expenditures on equipment, vehicles or uniforms for the police is more difficult to obtain, but still available (Note: The links are hard to find if one does not know exactly where to look for information. End Note. In the Finance and Public Credit Secretariat's webpage, in the 'Expenditures' field, information about allotted and spent resources compared to the previous year on government program's such as Plataforma Mexico or the fight against small-scaled drug dealing can also be found, but only for 2007 and previous years. ¶11. (SBU) Information on income and expenditures can also be found in each of the government's Secretariats or agencies. The new catalogue of expenditures approved by the Congress in 1997 and reported by each agency includes the following items: --Personal services (salaries and allowances) --Materials and supplies (tools, uniforms, paperwork, etc.) --General services (contracts, purchase orders, etc.) MEXICO 00001006 003 OF 003 --Subsidies and transfers to states and municipalities --Property (buildings, vehicles, equipment, furniture, etc.) --Public works --Financial investment ¶12. (SBU) COMMENT: The Mexican government's political will during the past two administrations to promote transparency and accountability is highly commendable and resulted in the creation of two new laws aimed at fostering the right to know and making government officials accountable for their acts. The challenge for Mexico now is to continue cultivating a culture of openness and ensuring that transparency laws are fully and properly implemented. The government's general income and expenditures information on public programs can be easily obtained in the Internet, through the Mexican equivalent to the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, and via a direct request to the Embassy's contacts in the government. Very detailed information on the government's income and expenditures on a particular program is relatively accessible. Perhaps the government could improve its mechanisms to let the public know where exactly to search for the information thus making these details more easily accessible to the public. Bassett