Part 553

National capital: Mexico

Administrative divisions: 31 states (estados, singular - estado) and 1 federal district* (distrito federal); Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Colima, Distrito Federal*, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan de Ocampo, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro de Arteaga, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz-Llave, Yucatan, Zacatecas

Independence: 16 September 1810 (from Spain)

National holiday: Independence Day, 16 September (1810)

Constitution: 5 February 1917

Legal system: mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory (but not enforced)

Executive branch: chief of state: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1 December 1994); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government : President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1 December 1994); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 21 August 1994 (next to be held NA 2000) election results: Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon elected president; percent of vote - Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (PRI) 50.18%, Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 17.08%, Diego FERNANDEZ DE CEVALLOS (PAN) 26.69%, other 6.049%

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la Union consists of the Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats, expanded from 64 seats at the last election; members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (500 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms) elections: Senate - last held 21 August 1994 (next to be held 6 July 1997 for one-quarter of the seats); Chamber of Deputies - last held 24 August 1994 (next to be held 6 July 1997) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party in expanded Senate - PRI 93, PRD 25, PAN 10; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PRI 300, PAN 119, PRD 71, PT 10

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia), judges are appointed by the president with consent of the Senate

Political parties and leaders: (recognized parties) Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Humberto ROQUE Villanueva; National Action Party (PAN), Felipe CALDERON Hinojosa; Popular Socialist Party (PPS), Indalecio SAYAGO Herrera; Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Andres Manuel LOPEZ Obrador; Cardenist Front for the National Reconstruction Party (PFCRN), Rafael AGUILAR Talamantes; Democratic Forum Party (PFD), Pablo Emilio MADERO; Mexican Green Ecologist Party (PVEM), Jorge GONZALEZ Torres; Workers Party (PT), Alberto ANYA Gutierrez

Political pressure groups and leaders: Roman Catholic Church; Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM); Confederation of Industrial Chambers (CONCAMIN); Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce (CONCANACO); National Peasant Confederation (CNC); Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT); Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CROC); Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers (CROM); Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic (COPARMEX); National Chamber of Transformation Industries (CANACINTRA); Coordinator for Foreign Trade Business Organizations (COECE); Federation of Unions Providing Goods and Services (FESEBES)

International organization participation: AG (observer), APEC, BCIE, BIS (pending member), Caricom (observer), CCC, CDB, EBRD, ECLAC, FAO, G- 6, G-11, G-15, G-19, G-24, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, NAM (observer), OAS, OECD, OPANAL, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Jesus SILVA Herzog Flores chancery: 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006 telephone: (202) 728-1600 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, El Paso, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan (Puerto Rico) consulate(s): Albuquerque, Austin, Boston, Brownsville (Texas), Calexico (California), Corpus Christi, Del Rio (Texas), Detroit, Eagle Pass (Texas), Fresno (California), Laredo, McAllen (Texas), Midland (Texas), Nogales (Arizona), Oxnard (California), Philadelphia, Sacramento, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Bernardino, San Jose, Santa Ana, Seattle

Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador James R. JONES embassy: Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 Mexico, Distrito Federal mailing address: P. O. Box 3087, Laredo, TX 78044-3087 telephone : (5) 211-0042 FAX: (5) 511-9980, 208-3373 consulate(s) general: Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana consulate(s): Hermosillo, Matamoros, Merida, Nuevo Laredo

Flag description: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; the coat of arms (an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak) is centered in the white band

Economy

Economy - overview: Mexico has a free market economy with a mixture of modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector. The Mexican economy enters 1997 in the midst of an economic recovery that began to pick up steam in mid-1996. After plummeting more than 6% in 1995 in the aftermath of the peso crisis, economic activity in Mexico grew by an estimated 5.1% in 1996. Many private forecasters who had scoffed at the ZEDILLO administration's 3% growth target for 1996 are now projecting economic expansion of 4-5% for 1997. Strong export growth continues to drive the economy; total exports were up roughly 16% in 1996 compared to 1995. By the end of 1996, however, Mexican government statistics showed that increased domestic consumption and investment spending were also beginning to contribute to the recovery. Despite these positive economic trends, structural problems and vulnerabilities remain. Low savings rates will keep Mexico dependent on foreign capital; national savings as a share of GDP plunged from a peak of 25% in 1983 to less than 14% in 1994. Additionally, Mexico City is still struggling to bail out a banking sector burdened with bad debts. Mexico's international trade continues to be highly dependent on the US market. The US/Mexico trade balance has shifted over the last two years because of the peso's rapid devaluation in late 1994, which made Mexican exports much more attractive. In 1995 and 1996, the US ran trade deficits with Mexico, a large turnaround from 1994's trade surplus of about $1.3 billion.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $777.3 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 5.1% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $8,100 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture : 8% industry: 28% services: 63% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 28% (1996 est.)

Labor force: total: 36.3 million (November 1996) by occupation: services 31.7%, agriculture, forestry, hunting, and fishing 28%, commerce 14.6%, manufacturing 11.1%, construction 8.4%, transportation 4.7%, mining and quarrying 1.5%

Unemployment rate: 10% (1996 est.) plus considerable underemployment

Budget: revenues: $73.8 billion expenditures: $74 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1996 est.)

Industries: food and beverages, tobacco, chemicals, iron and steel, petroleum, mining, textiles, clothing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 11% (1996 est.)