Mexico Congress completes approval of 2019 budget

MEXICO CITY, Dec 26 (Reuters): Mexico's lower house of Congress completed approval of the 2019 budget, signing off on the spending part of the package barely a week after the plan was first presented.

The 5.8 trillion peso ($291.5 billion) budget stuck close to new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's campaign promises to increase social spending while forcing many better-paid public servants to accept pay cuts.

The plan approved was almost 24 billion pesos higher than the budget presented on December 15, after the leftist Lopez Obrador said last week he wanted to find more money for universities.

The 2019 budget is projected to run a one per cent surplus once payments on existing debt are excluded. The revenue section of the budget package received final approval from lawmakers late last week.