Mexico Hits Pause on IMF Credit Line Reduction Amid Pandemic
- Nation opts against cutting its $63 billion precautionary line
- The government originally intended to reduce its FCL by 20%
Mexico was the first country in the world to get the credit line when it was created in 2009 during the global financial crisis.
Photographer: Alejandro Cegarra/BloombergMexico won approval from the International Monetary Fund to maintain its flexible credit line at $63.4 billion amid the global pandemic, bucking the reductions taken in recent years, according to three people familiar with the talks.
Approval from the IMF came at the mid-term review of the credit line Wednesday, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. In the last renewal of the line a year ago, the IMF said that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s government intended to use the review to trim the line by 20% to $50.7 billion, conditional on a lowering of external risks.