I f you are looking for a country to travel in which your dollar gets you more for your money, look no further than Mexico, as the United States dollar can buy more Mexican pesos now than ever — at least for many years — and the peso could sink even lower this year.
Mexican Peso Hits Record Low Against United States Dollar
At the end of the day yesterday, Wednesday, January 4, 2017, the United States dollar would have netted you 21.4796 Mexican pesos after coming off a record high of 21.614 Mexican pesos.
In other words, one Mexican peso costs only 4.655 cents in United States currency.
In comparison, you could purchase only 9.93330 Mexican pesos with that same dollar back on Saturday, August 2, 2008.
Two Reasons as to Why the Mexican Peso Has Been Devalued
One reason for the significant decline of the Mexican peso is attributed to the possible negative impact which the policies of Donald Trump might have on the economy in Mexico once he is sworn in as president of the United States on Friday, January 20, 2017 — especially with his intentions on keeping jobs in the United States instead of exporting them to Mexico; threatening to increase cross-border taxes on companies based in the United States which intend to manufacture products in Mexico; and that ever-looming infamous vaporware wall proposed to be constructed along the length of the entire border…
…but the main reason why Ford Motor Company has abandoned its plans to build a plant in Mexico has little to do with Donald Trump and more to do with the initiative of building electric cars and self-driving cars, which require highly-skilled workers and not typical assembly line employees. “The Ford engineers, tasked with creating these models, work in Dearborn, Mich. — 20 miles from the Flat Rock assembly plant. Moving production to Mexico would have made their jobs harder,” according to this article written by Danielle Paquette for The Washington Post.
Summary
This news is not necessarily good for the economy of the United States. The reason is because when the United States dollar is stronger, goods and services from the United States become more expensive to Mexicans, who may either save their money or look elsewhere to purchase similar goods and services…
…but for you as a traveler, this is potentially good news because goods and services will theoretically be generally less expensive for you in Mexico due to you having more purchasing power — especially if you are from the United States.
For the reason of the favorable currency exchange rate, 2017 may be the best time to visit Mexico.
Composite photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
