President Hip?lito Mej?a, speaking on the Sunday Una Vez a la Semana show broadcast on the state?s television station, said that he would not implement the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund to increase taxes (IMF proposed to raise ITBIS tax) and attributed local economic woes to the war in Iraq, high petroleum prices and international economic problems.
When asked about the depreciating peso, the President said: ?Little has happened and I thank the sectors of the economy because with the Baninter conflict, the rules of the dollar game, [the peso] could have gone more haywire.?