NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) Jan. 9, 2001--Standard&Poor's today assigned its double-'B'-plus rating to United Mexican States' $1.5 billion global 8.375% note due Jan. 14, 2011. The rating reflects Standard&Poor's expectations that the Fox Administration will adopt a more sustainable macroeconomic policy mix. The adoption by Congress of the 2001 budget augurs well for governability; however, a relatively lax fiscal policy in 2000--despite a large increase in the price of oil, an acceleration of aggregate demand, and a large increase in the nonoil current account--has led the central bank to adopt a tightening bias. This policy mix, in turn, has increased the vulnerability of the economy to negative exogenous shocks, particularly if the U.S. economy
