Mexico’s improvements in corruption indexes, with no clear link with public policies: SFP

The secretary of Public Function, Roberto Salcedo Aquino, acknowledged that although Mexico has improved in both national and international studies in the fight against corruption, in recent years, there is no clear evidence that this is due to the public policies implemented.

“There is no clear correlation between the government effort and the results obtained, ”he said when participating in the 10th International Seminar on Corruption and Politics in Latin America: Pesos sin Contrapesos, within the framework of the Guadalajara International Book Fair.

During the conference that he offered entitled “Challenges of the fight against corruption in Mexico”, Salcedo Aquino indicated that in studies such as the Corruption Perception Index, from Transparency International, the country has improved 14 positions between 2020 and 2021.

At the national level, the holder of the Public Function Secretary (SFP) highlighted the results of the National Survey of Regulatory Quality and Government Impact on Companies, of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), which in the results for 2020 indicated that the rate of victims of acts of corruption per 10,000 companies dropped from 561 to 510.

In this context, the federal official said that it is necessary to measure each one of the concrete concepts of corruption, including dimensioning the effectiveness of the control and detection measures to reduce each of the modalities of the phenomenon.

Resources for 2022

In turn, Salcedo stressed that by 2022 the Cross-Sectional Anticorruption Annex (ATA) of the Federation’s Expenditure Budget foresees that the total amount allocated to combat corruption and impunity will be 3,532 million pesos; 6.52% more than last year.

“With this, spending is guaranteed in items that seek to reduce inequalities, detonate well-being and maintain social stability,” he stated.

Regarding the ATA, the public servant said that since it began to be published in 2018, it has provided elements to the public to evaluate anti-corruption spending.