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By KELIN DILLON 

Just over two months before Mexico’s June 2021 midterm elections, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) announced he would be doubling the pension for the nation’s elderly community gradually, until reaching 6,000 pesos every two months in 2024.

AMLO also revealed the minimum age to receive the pension would go down from 68 to 65, expanding the potential number of beneficiaries from 8 million to over 10 million recipients. 

“These resources will come from the public budget without increasing the debt or taxes and without gasoline hikes,” said López Obrador.

A 15 percent to the pension increase will come in July, followed by a 20 percent increase every January from 2022 to 2024. It is expected to increase the annual budget for the elderly pensions from the current figure of 135 billion pesos to 370 billion pesos by 2024.

The increase was promised to take effect in July following the midterms in June as to not interfere with the electoral process, though critics have raised concerns about how announcing the initiative preemptively could affect voters’ choices come election day.

….March 23, 2021