Throughout most of the 20th century, the Mexican peso remained one of the more stable currencies in Latin America, since the economy did not experience periods of hyperinflation common to other countries in the region. However, after the oil crisis of the late 1970s, Mexico defaulted on its external debt in 1982, and as a result the country suffered a severe case of capital flight, followed by several years of inflation and devaluation, until a government economic strategy called the "Stability and Economic Growth Pact" "(Pacto de estabilidad y crecimiento económico, PECE)" was adopted under President Carlos Salinas. On January 1, 1993, the Bank of Mexico introduced a new currency, the "nuevo peso" ("new peso", or MXN), written "N$" followed by the numerical amount. One new peso, or N$1.00, was equal to 1000 of the obsolete MXP pesos.