Ortiz Mena, Antonio

▪ 2008

      Mexican politician

born April 16, 1907 , Parral, Chihuahua, Mex.

died March 12, 2007 , Mexico City, Mex.

was credited with fueling Mexico's phenomenal growth (about 6% annually) while serving as the country's finance minister (1958–70). Ortíz Mena, a lawyer by profession, held a variety of government posts before helping to usher in the “Mexican miracle” that elevated millions of Mexicans into the middle class. From 1971 to 1988 he led the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and was responsible for increasing its lending 10-fold (from $4 billion to $40 billion). In addition, as president he helped diversify financing operations and lobbied for the move by the IDB's governors to amend the charter to include member countries outside the Western Hemisphere. As a result, membership swelled from 23 countries at the beginning of his tenure to 44 countries in 1987.

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