Whilst, the elected president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced a new ‘Republican Austerity’ policy for the public expenditure as well as changes of the public law in order to penalize acts of corruption – like diversion of public resources. In the State of Mexico opacity politics and hiding of information in public expenditures prevail according to recent informs from specialized organisms.

This lack of transparency could make the Alfredo del Mazo’s government to get into troubles with the politics of the new administration because, according to the latest report from the IMCO (Mexican Institute for the competitiveness), the State of Mexico is among the ten states of the country with the worst rates in the IIPE (Index of budgetary information of the State) for hiding information in budgetary concerns as resources delivered to civil organizations; in public debts (ADEFAS); contracts, trusts, etc.

According to the IIPE 2017, the state of Mexico has a rate of fulfillment of 73% which makes it the tenth worst state in the country right behind Sinaloa (73) , Nuevo Leon(71%)%), Baja California Sur (70%), San Luis Potosí (66%), Guerrero (65%), Tamaulipas (63%), Veracruz (61%), Mexico City (57%) and Michoacán (51%).

Among the deficiencies in the government of the State of Mexico’s budgetary transparency lies on the fact that the Income Law is not properly itemized in the total income of fees and contributions of social security in the three levels (area, type and classification) the same for the perception of goods and services and services in three levels. They also lack the itemization the type of agreements in two levels (area and type) as well as the type of transferences, allocations, subsidies and other types of contributions in three levels (area, type and class).

The government also avoids giving information about the capitulary object classification, concept and generic giving, a functional category that indicates purpose, function, sub-function and programmed classification. This means that the government only gives half the information required by the IMCO.

MISSING INFORMATION ABOUT THE PUBLIC DEBT

The government of the State of Mexico hides too much information about the public debt since it delivers only 23.08% of the required by this institute. It doesn’t itemize the credits belonging to the public debt neither the warranty debt nor the source of payment. It also doesn’t itemize the amount destined to the financial year in terms of public debt’s payment and interests as well as the decreed public debt or key that allows its identification as public debt y type of obligation or engagement – single credit, market inversion and services, etc.) the public debt by banks, hiring rates of the public debt, amount assigned to the financial year of payment of commissions, spends, cost y cover and financial support related to it, hiring time of public debt and also the government doesn’t make public the information related to the destination of each one of the hiring of the public debt.

The government only informs about the limits of the hiring of the public debt and the amount assigned to the financial year of the payment of the public debt and the amount assigned to the payment of the public debt on payment of former financial years (ADEFAS)

CIVIL SOCIAL SUPPORT, DATA CAREFULLY HIDDEN APPART

In specific areas, the State of Mexico´s government web page doesn’t inform about the following areas:

Financial to each political party (itemized specifically)

Subsidies or Social help; amounts designated to subsidies or social help; type of social help; federal and state resources for education (all levels); social programs by sources of financial; strategic indicators and management of programs; transferences or donations to civil society organizations (by organism), something that generally denies when required through transparency.

It also avoids informing on detail or generally about: public trusts of the state ordered by number of contract and fiduciary; patrimonial balance of each one of the public trusts of the state ordered by departments. As well as transparency abut public and private associations and service delivery projects or multiannual contracts. In practical terms, the Alfredo Del Mazo´s government doesn’t inform on detail about how many resources are destined to social helps and civil society organizations nor trusts.

Translator: Fabián Peñaloza Ramírez