Being in the news business, our team is constantly asked questions by readers about current events in the country. On a personal level, I am increasingly stopped on the street and asked questions by people. There is no such thing as a dinner party where I can just enjoy the meal anymore — it now always ends up with me being peppered with questions. No matter who is doing the asking, they almost always fall into one of 5 categories:
- Is Mexico safe?
- How is the cost and quality of healthcare in Mexico?
- How is Claudia Sheinbaum doing?
- How is the Mexican economy doing?
- Is the Mexican peso overvalued and will it devalue anytime soon?
Given the frequency with which we hear these questions, we naturally prioritize content in these areas. To help further enable understanding, debate and discussion, the MND team is excited to announce that we are launching MND Insights, which consists of three new exclusive MND indexes and two unique MND Expat surveys. We have been working on creating these new types of content for several months and are excited to finally begin publishing them, starting next week. Allow me briefly introduce each one:
1. The MND Mexico Expat Safety Perceptions Survey
The number one question everyone living, working, or vacationing in Mexico hears from family and friends is “Is it safe there?” As many of us living here know, the international media narrative about Mexico tends to present a very different perspective on the country than what those of us who live here experience.
Our team in no way seeks to minimize the fact that parts of the country have real crime and safety issues, but we believe that it is important to more accurately cover what actual expats living here feel in terms of crime and safety risks. As a result, we have created the MND Mexico Expat Safety Perceptions Survey, where on a quarterly basis we will directly survey over 2,000 Expats living throughout the country to gain their perceptions about safety. The data will be collected, compiled, organized and shared once per quarter, starting with next week.
2. The MND Mexico Healthcare Cost and Quality Survey
After safety, healthcare concerns around cost, availability, and quality are the biggest issue that people have when it comes to spending more time in Mexico. Cost and complexity are increasing concerns in the U.S., and availability and accessibility are often concerns in Canada and elsewhere. Mexico is increasingly becoming a destination for healthcare and the country has recently announced that it will be launching a universal health service. This biannual survey will bring MND readers real data and insights from foreigners actually receiving healthcare in Mexico today. The survey will give you perspectives on the quality, availability and cost of care — as well as how it compares to the care people received in their home country. The goal of this survey is to demystify healthcare in the country and better educate and inform those who are wanting to learn more. The first survey will go out soon, with the results published in late May.
Mexico launches Universal Health Service registration, starting with elderly
The Mexican peso exchange rate with the USD and CAD is another frequent topic of discussion. I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me for my opinion on the exchange rate. Countless people have tried to convince me that the current peso value makes no sense and is “due for a significant devaluation any day” (I have been hearing that for several years now).
For decades, the peso to US dollar exchange rate was a pretty boring topic. Since the big devaluation of 1995 until the 2020 COVID pandemic, the peso on average devalued about 10% versus the USD each year. Sometimes more, other times less, but depreciation against the USD was a reliable bet. That predictability is long gone, and since the initial spike at the start of the pandemic, the peso has appreciated significantly and, for the most part, held the gains.
As a result, the big question nearly everyone has is: Where does it go from here? Although no one can claim to predict exchange rates with certainty, we can look at the trends of the underlying indicators that serve as logical, rational predictors. Mexico News Daily will begin to provide deeper insight into the peso and the Mexican economy at large with two new comprehensive monthly indexes:
3. The MND Peso Index
The MND Peso Index will directly help answer the question: Is the peso overvalued? It will do this by comparing a consistent basket of 20 goods and services in both the United States and Mexico, and on a monthly basis look at the costs of these 20 items in both countries, track changes, and compare them to the actual exchange rate. This will provide our readers with a real time sense of how overvalued or undervalued the peso is based on actual goods and services. It is not looking at economic indicators or reported government statistics but rather the real prices of real items in both countries and using that data to help us better understand current exchange rates. This index will work in a similar fashion as The Economist Magazine’s “Big Mac Index” which provides insight into exchange rates globally.
4. The MND Mexico Economy Index
This index will help you better understand the underlying forces and trends behind the peso’s current rate. Each month, our team will review economic data across 17 indicators and create a simple index based on the data. We all know that it’s not easy to make predictions about the peso or draw conclusions about the economy, especially given the current amount of uncertainty in the world. That being said, this index will provide you with a simple way of better understanding the economy far beyond GDP growth.
5. The MND Sheinbaum Index
Claudia Sheinbaum has caught the attention of the world. Her popularity remains high in Mexico, but many expats struggle to answer the basic question: How is President Sheinbaum doing? Their confusion is often exacerbated by conversations with wealthier Mexicans, many who are convinced that she is “ruining the country.”
Of course, as is the case with any political leader, the opinions are often based on past experiences and decisions that have had a personal impact on family, business or community. Most of us who are immigrants to Mexico don’t have as many personal experiences to draw on to form an opinion. As a result, many of us end up having a very superficial (at best) understanding of how the president of the country is actually doing.
To help our readers better assess President Sheinbaum’s performance, our team will be compiling data from 11 different indicators on a monthly basis. We will gather data from across the economic and social spectrum to help you form a more informed opinion about how the president is leading the country.
Creating these indexes and surveys has been hard work. We don’t expect them to be perfect from day 1, and we don’t expect everyone to agree with our methodology or with our results. But we are confident that we have come up with useful tools that are rational, logical, unemotional, unbiased, apolitical and thought-provoking.
The mark of our success in this new initiative will be if (when!) our readers are able to better understand Mexico thanks to an easy-to-read, accessible index. Our goal is for people to feel more informed and confident discussing, debating and sharing opinions on these important topics.
Over the next 5 weeks, we will be publishing one of these new initiatives each week. Please read them carefully, and share your thoughts and comments with us. We want to learn from your experience and your feedback to improve where necessary.
Together, we will elevate our understanding of Mexico, and most certainly have some good informed debate in the process!
Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.
