Mexico’s government will present a bill to stop using the minimum wage to calculate fines, levies and contributions Finance Minister Luis Videgaray said on Thursday, paving the way for a possible increase in base pay levels.
Mexican policymakers have long favored lower wage increases to keep inflation in check and attract foreign investment. But Mexico City’s leftist mayor and the opposition conservative National Action Party have both proposed minimum wage increases ahead of midterm elections next year.
Videgaray said Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto would submit a plan to lawmakers to stop using the minimum wage as a basis to set fines, fix worker contributions for subsidized home loans and determine public financing for political parties.
Putting an end to the practice is a “necessary condition for us to have the debate we need to have,” Videgaray told Mexico’s Senate, referring to the minimum wage.
He did not say when the bill would be presented.
(1 US dollar = 13.2300 Mexican peso) (Reporting by Michael O’Boyle. Editing by Andre Grenon)
