La Jornada: SHCP: country’s public debt exceeded $19 billion

Mexico’s public debt exceeded 19 trillion pesos in the first half of 2026, reaching 51 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). According to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), which projects a higher level at the end of the year, indebtedness “remained on a sustainable path.

“With this, Mexico maintains the investment grade granted by the eight rating agencies that evaluate its sovereign debt and maintained favorable conditions of access to financing markets,” highlighted the Treasury, showing statistics where debt could still grow by one trillion pesos and reach 52.3 percent of GDP at the end of the year.

At the moment, the agency added, public debt in its broadest measure – the Historical Balance of Financial Requirements of the Public Sector (SHRFSP) – was located “1.6 percentage points below what was expected and at a moderate level compared to other economies in Latin America.”

In the end, the Treasury showed that the SHRFSP went from a nominal balance of 17 trillion 796 thousand 100 million pesos in the middle of last year, to 19 trillion 47 thousand 700 million pesos as of June 2026.

Manageable levels

“The country’s public finances are under control” and the debt as a proportion of GDP is at “adequate and manageable levels,” added the head of the SHCP, Édgar Amador Zamora, at a press conference.

María del Carmen Bonilla, Undersecretary of the Treasury, pointed out that countries with a similar evaluation, BBB, on average have debt levels of 57 percent of GDP.

The SHCP stressed that “fiscal balances recorded a better performance than expected.” For example, the budget deficit was lower than programmed by 358 billion pesos, while the primary budget balance recorded a surplus of 115 billion.

And the financial cost of the debt – interest and payments for its administration – decreased 4.8 percent annually in the first semester, favored by the effect of the exchange rate variation on liabilities denominated in foreign currency and by a refinancing strategy of the federal government that allowed it to improve the maturity profile and generate savings of 111 billion pesos.