Although the budget assigned to the Under-secretariat of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) of the Economy Secretariat will be similar to that in 2003, the financial programmes for SMEs will still be a priority in 2004, said Sergio Garcнa de Alba, the secretariat head.
In an interview, Garcнa de Alba explained that the under-secretariat would have a budget of around one billion pesos (US$91.4m) despite the fact that a fiscal reform with funds of around five billion pesos (US$ 456.7m) had been approved. He also made reference to the increased budget of 11 billion pesos (US$1.0 bn) in 2003. Because of the absence of an increase in the final budget, he predicted that this year SMEs would not generate the 80,000 jobs hoped for.
