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By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

During the first month of 2022, Mexico’s public sector fiscal deficit amounted to 64.533 billion pesos, the highest for a similar month in six years.

This amount was 10.4 times greater than the deficit that was recorded in January 2021 and the highest that has been reported for the first month of the year since 2016, when it reached 51.749 billion pesos, according to numbers released by the Treasury and Public Credit Secretariat (SHCP) on Tuesday, March 22.

In January, the total income of the public sector amounted to 701.301 billion pesos, while expenses — including financing needs — totaled 765.834 billion pesos, leading to a deficit of 64.533 billion pesos.

According to the Treasury, this deficit was largely due to the fact that tax revenues stagnated, totaling only 379.838 billion pesos, an annual reduction of 0.2 percent, mainly due to the 56.3 percent drop in federal tax collection and to federal gasoline and diesel subsidies to offset the rise in international oil prices.