Some Basic Mexican Math

According to the World Factbook run by the Central Intelligence Agency, Mexico’s total revenue for last year was only $269 billion, which caused them a budget deficit of over $30 billion.  You can check those numbers here: https://www.cia.gov/Library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2056.html.   The reason for Mexico’s budgetary crisis is a recent slump in oil prices; Mexico happens to be the 7th largest oil producer in the world.  As a result, Mexico is currently in an austerity program, having already slashed $10 billion from this year’s budget.

The President Elect of the USA has been trying to convince us that Mexico will pay for a border wall he wants to build, which he claims will cost $12 billion.  That’s a low-ball estimate, however. A study published in the MIT Technology Review estimated the cost of Trump’s wall at $38 billion.  Again, you can find this information courtesy of the CIA World Factbook:  https://www.cia.gov/Library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2056.html

So here’s the math:  even if they wanted to pay for Trump’s wall, which they don’t, it would cost 14% of their total annual revenue. To put that into perspective, that would be more than double the country’s entire budget for public education, including higher education.  

Anyone who tells you that Mexico will pay the costs of Trump’s wall is either terribly naive, horribly dishonest, or really bad at math.