El Primer Informe de Gobierno del señor Presidente de la República constituye un documento en que, sólo se abordan con satisfacción las realizaciones, sino que se encaran valerosamente los diversos problemas que afronta México.

México ha avanzado aceleradamente en años recientes y no es siquiera necesario asomarse a las estadísticas para aquilatar este desarrollo. Signos visibles abundan por doquier: las plantas industriales han erizado nuestros paisajes de enormes chimeneas; las construcciones más modernas parecen multiplicarse en nuestras ciudades; las vías de comunicación han llegado a constituir una gigantesca telaraña, a través de cuyos hilos fluye la vida económica nacional; gracias a las obras de irrigación, donde antes había desierto, hoy existe el vergel, donde antes había miseria, hoy predomina la prosperidad. En términos generales, el mexicano actual vive mucho mejor que sus padres y, significativamente, parece estar decidido a lograr que sus hijos tengan aun condiciones mejores.

Although Mexico’s economy is still backward in many respects, we are catching up face with more developed countries. Consider, for instance, these figures: before 1940, per capita gross national product amounted to less than seventy dollars; in 1966, less than thirty years later, it jumped to about 500 dollars. Population, in the meantime, rose from less than twenty million to about 43 million. Despite the fact that agriculture as a whole did not lag appreciably, industry was by far the main daring force and in the last twenty-seven years the volume of industrial production increased six-fold; last year, industry’s share in the economy was rapidly approaching the 40% mark. Simultaneously, the commercial sector, as well as other services, such as the banking community, became more efficient, more sophisticated, providing a much needed support for the other activities. Price stability, particularly in later years, has been awarded the highest priority and it is significant that, for nearly thirteen years now, the Mexican peso has been stable in the foreign exchange markets. Moreover, we have stuck rigidly to free convertibility, a long-lived tradition since the inception of our country. This is uncommon, even among developed nations, many of which still have exchange controls of one sort of another. It is significant that one of the main economic powers in Europe established full convertibility only a few weeks ago.