#TBT: Bill Clinton Saves The Mexican Economy

 

     On January 31st, 1995, President Bill Clinton authorized the Treasury Department to provide $20 billion in emergency loans to Mexico after Congress failed to authorize his $50 billion package. In response to the U.S. taking the first step, other world leaders in Canada and the international community announced $29 billion in loans. This $49 billion aid prevented the collapse of the peso and the Mexican economy, which would have severely hindered the U.S. economy (NAFTA had entered into force the prior year). Mexico repaid the loans early, and the United States received $600 million in interest from the emergency loan.

     Clinton would later offer billions in loans to Indonesia to stave off an economic collapse in Southeast Asia on Halloween 1997, although this would prove less effective in restoring economic stability than the global intervention in Mexico; Indonesia's president would resign in 1998.