Mexico Has Paid 1.6 Trillion Pesos on the Fobaproa Bank Bailout, yet the Debt Keeps Growing: “A Scam,” Says the Finance Secretary

BySugeyry Romina Gándara

This article by Sugeyry Romina Gándara originally appeared in the September 9, 2026 edition of SinEmbargo, an independent Mexican digital news outlet.

Mexico City, September 9 (SinEmbargo). The federal government has paid nearly 1.6 trillion pesos for the Bank Savings Protection Fund (Fobaproa), considered one of the greatest scams in Mexico, since the administration of Ernesto Zedillo turned private debts into public debt with the support of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Action Party (PAN), the PRIAN.

Édgar Amador Zamora, head of the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), revealed on Wednesday that this amount has been paid “over the course of these years,” but only to cover part of the interest on the debt generated, so that it has become practically “unpayable.”

For her part, the Deputy Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, María del Carmen Bonilla, reported that the 2027 Economic Package presented yesterday plans to allocate 48 billion pesos of the public budget to this debt.

Meanwhile, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo promised that her government will soon present a detailed report on Fobaproa, currently known as the Bank Savings Protection Institute (IPAB), a decentralized body of the Secretariat of Finance.

“One day we will explain in full detail how Fobaproa was created, how much has been paid, and why we say it will hardly ever be paid off,” the Mexican president said from the National Palace.

The Finance Secretary, Édgar Amador, explained that, like all debts, Fobaproa is made up of two components: the principal, which is the original amount owed, and the interest, which is divided into two parts: “one component that pays the equivalent of inflation and another that pays the real portion.”

The official noted that the contributions the banks make to the IPAB, which serve to back the public’s savings and finance historical financial obligations, go toward paying the real portion of the interest, so no capital is applied to cover the nominal portion and the principal of the debt.

“It is refinanced with new bonds. That has made it impossible to pay off to date,” Amador stressed.

The Finance Secretary indicated that in recent years the federal government has paid nearly 1.6 trillion pesos to service the Fobaproa debt; however, “not a single peso of the principal has been paid; on the contrary, it has grown.”

“Not a single peso of the principal has been paid; on the contrary, it has grown.”

Édgar Amador, Finance Secretary

Amador stressed that starting next year, banking institutions will no longer be able to deduct the contributions they make to the IPAB. “On top of everything, they made the IPAB fees deductible for the banks. Starting next fiscal year, they will no longer be deductible,” he pointed out.

The Deputy Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, María del Carmen Bonilla, indicated that the banks contribute 75 percent of the fees to the IPAB, so to cover the rest of the resources allocated to paying Fobaproa, the federal government includes a specific line item for this purpose in each year’s budget.

For this reason, the 2027 Economic Package presented by the Secretariat of Finance contemplates allocating nearly 48 billion pesos to pay this debt next year.

“Only the banks contribute 75 percent of the fees. So the rest, depending on how inflation moves, has to be updated periodically, and it is a line item placed in the budget, which is what the President mentioned a couple of days ago, in this case, for 2027, between the savers and debtors of that time, it represents nearly 48 billion pesos of the 2027 public budget,” the Deputy Secretary said.