Topic - Money

The latest survey published by Fortune has named Carlos Slim, Mexico’s foremost business mogul, as the world’s richest man, ‘dethroning’ Bill Gates.  Carlos Slim’s fortune is now valued at some $53.5 billion, whereas Bill Gates is left with a mere $53 billion. Depending upon who you speak with here in Mexico, Carlos Slim is cast [...]

The provision and funding of healthcare services has been a challenge for civic leaders ever since healthcare, as a practice, moved out of the apothecary’s store and into the realms of science, clinics, hospitals and health programs. Finding constructive ways to make healthcare affordable and accessible to a country’s citizens–by whatever means–will continue to be a [...]

On January 1st 2010, Mexico’s national sales tax rate, commonly referred to by its initials IVA (Impuesto al Valor Agregado), or Value Added Tax, rose by one percent, to 16%. Price tags at retail stores across Mexico include this sum, so the amount you see advertised for an item is the amount you pay; distinct [...]

Three of the world’s major rating agencies have downgraded Mexico’s credit score. Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s cited falling oil production, the financial crisis, inflexible fiscal infrastructure—read inadequate tax collection—and a continued over-dependency on oil revenues as the key issues considered in their decision to downgrade Mexico’s global credit rating. The Mexican peso and [...]

Our 2010 Mexico Price Watch report, that is being researched now for publication early in the New Year, is turning-out some interesting findings. There are products and services you can buy in Mexico which are definitely lower in price than equivalents in the USA or Europe; for example: fresh food costs less, property taxes and [...]

If you’re living or working in Mexico, planning to retire here, or planning to invest in Mexican real estate, the likelihood is that you will need to open an account at a Mexican bank to facilitate your daily financial transactions in Mexico as well as manage money transfers between foreign accounts and your Mexican bank [...]

Mexperience readers of old will know that we have always encouraged them to bring their foreign currency and exchange it in Mexico, as the deals on offer here provide much better value than exchanging currency over the counter in the USA, Canada and Europe. Mexico City’s international airport has, forever it seems, been the country’s [...]

Tipping people for services rendered is a practice that is deeply engrained into Mexican culture. Most of the people working in Mexico’s tourism and catering service industries earn a low basic minimum wage and depend upon your tips to earn their living.   The importance of earning those tips, coupled with extensive training programs rolled-out nationwide out [...]

Like every country in the world, counterfeit banknotes circulate in Mexico.  Notwithstanding the prospect of a twelve-year prison sentence for counterfeiting money, some people still chance their luck by printing rogue notes and attempting to pass them off as genuine. Trouble may arise if you innocently offer a counterfeit note for payment and have the bill [...]

Mexico City’s airport is one of the country’s busiest outlets for over-the-counter currency exchange, and it’s also a bellwether of currency exchange rates; news programs often quote the retail rates being offered at the airport as a type of ‘exchange rate barometer’, particularly for trade between the Mexican Peso and US Dollar. This week, a [...]