MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

World Bank, IMF and IDB resume links (and loans) with Honduras

Honduran Finance minister William Chong: business as usual

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) member countries this week agreed to resume lending to Honduras, the latest development institution to recognize the new government of President Porfirio Lobo.

“In a meeting today the board decided to resume lending to Honduras,” a spokesman for the regional development bank said.

Inter-American Development Bank member countries agreed to resume lending to Honduras, the latest donor to recognize the new government of President Porfirio Lobo.

A mission will travel to Honduras in coming weeks to discuss a possible pipeline of loans following the IADB board's decision to resume lending, a spokesman for the regional development bank said.

IADB and other development agencies suspended lending to Honduras last year after a coup toppled President Manuel Zelaya. They have slowly resumed relations with the new government following elections and at the prompting of the United States.

Earlier this month U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Honduras had taken steps to “deserve the recognition and normalization of relations.”

Honduras saw some 450 million US dollars in international aid frozen after the June 2009 coup as the European Union, Venezuela, the World Bank and IADB all halted funding to the government.

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank in February resumed relations with Honduras, which traditionally has been a signal to other donors to do the same.

Precisely earlier this week a technical team from the IMF arrived in Tegucigalpa to evaluate the country’s public finances and financial plans of the new government in office since January.

The IMF team will stay in Honduras till March 25 and has held meetings with Finance Ministry and Central Bank officials, as well as senior government and business leaders.

Honduran Finance Minister William Chong Wong told local media that the IMF team's visit “is normal, because they arrive in the country every year, but the meeting had been interrupted because of the political events of June 28 of last year”.

“They come to review where we are, to make a diagnosis ... to help put the finances in order,” Chong said.