Remittances from Mexicans abroad have totalled $80.2 billion since December 2000, the Mexican Central Bank reported. Remittances under President Vicente Fox have tripled compared to those under Ernesto Zedillo between 1994 and 2000. Remittances for the first half of 2006 were up 23% on the year before, at $11.4 billion.
Slovakia’s tax revenues from January to July were 139 billion koruna, nearly two thirds of the year’s target and up 1.8% on last year. Indirect tax revenues, which account for around 70% of total revenues, were up 3% year-on-year, because of the increase in excise tax rates. Corporate tax rates were up 7.2% on last year. The strong revenues suggest that the finance ministry’s target to cut the deficit to below the Maastricvht ceiling of 2.9% will be met.
Nigeria’s Speaker of the House, Aminu Bello Masari, denied rumours that President Olusegun Obasanjo has requested the House of Representatives to extend his tenure beyond May 2007. Masari said the extension can be granted only in a state of emergency. Obasanjo’s second consecutive term expires next year, which is the maximum a person can serve under the Nigerian constitution.
The general secretary of the Vietnam’s Communist Party, Nong Duc Manh, made his first overseas trip since re-election to China. Vietnam and China’s bilateral relations are improving. The two countries have set a target to increase trade by $1.2 billion to $10 billion this year. With 376 projects worth $795.4 million in total, China now ranks 15th among 74 foreign direct investors in Vietnam.