David Ibarra Muñoz (born 14 January 1930) is a Mexican economist who served as

Secretary of Finance The Secretariat of the Treasury and Public Credit ( es, Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, SHCP) is the finance ministry of Mexico. The Secretary of the Treasury is the head of the department, and is a member of the federal executive ...

(1977–82) during most of

José López Portillo José Guillermo Abel López Portillo y Pacheco (; 16 June 1920 – 17 February 2004) was a Mexican writer, lawyer and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 58th president of Mexico from 1976 t ...

's administration. He currently works as an independent advisor and serves in the board of directors of

Grupo Carso Grupo Carso is a Mexican global Conglomerate (company), conglomerate company owned by Carlos Slim. It was formed in 1990 after the merger of Corporación Industrial Carso and Grupo Inbursa. The name Carso stands for Carlos Slim and Soumaya Domit ...

and

América Móvil América Móvil is a Mexican telecommunications corporation headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the 7th largest mobile network operator in terms of equity subscribers and one of the largest corporations in the world. América Móvil is a ...

. Ibarra Muñoz was born in

Santiago de Querétaro Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

, into a family led by David Ibarra, an engineer. He graduated from the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

(UNAM) with bachelor's degrees in public accounting (1952) and economics (1957) and from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

with a doctorate degree in economics (1961). He has lectured in finance, planning and economics at the National University, where he has also served as secretary of social services (1955–57) and as director of graduate studies in the Faculty School of Economics (1967–69). In 1958 he joined the

United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, known as ECLAC, UNECLAC or in Spanish and Portuguese CEPAL, is a United Nations regional commission to encourage economic cooperation. ECLAC includes 46 member States (2 ...

as an economist in

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, and two years later he moved back to Mexico City to lead the development research department at its regional office; which he chaired from 1970 to 1973. When

assumed the presidency of Mexico, he served briefly as director-general of but was called on 17 November 1977 to substitute the secretary of finance,

Julio Rodolfo Moctezuma Julio Rodolfo Moctezuma Cid (March 24, 1927 – August 4, 2000) was a Mexican lawyer who served as the first Secretary of Finance (Mexico), Secretary of Finance (1976–77) in the cabinet of President José López Portillo, as director-general o ...

. After failing to control

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...

, facing a steep decline in oil prices and making, in his own words, "a series of

economic policy The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the e ...

blunders", he was asked to step down by the president in September 1982 (barely three months before the end of the presidential term) to chair the then-recently nationalized National Bank of Mexico (

Banamex #redirect Grupo Financiero Banamex Grupo Financiero Banamex S.A. de C.V. has its origins and is the owner of the Banco Nacional de México or Citibanamex (formerly Banamex). It is the second-largest bank in Mexico. The Banamex Financial Group wa ...

References

Mexican Secretaries of Finance Stanford University alumni National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni National Autonomous University of Mexico faculty Mexican economists People from Querétaro City 1930 births Living people {{Mexico-economist-stub