Press Release No. 12/306

Press Release: IMF Concludes Staff Visit to Honduras

September 7, 2012

An IMF staff mission visited Honduras during September 3–7, 2012 as part of the Fund’s periodic consultation with its member countries. During the visit the mission met with President Porfirio Lobo, Vice-President María Antonieta de Bográn, Central Bank Governor María Elena Mondragón, Minister of Finance Wilfredo Cerrato as well as other senior government officials and representatives of the private sector. At the conclusion of the visit, IMF mission chief Lisandro Ábrego issued the following statement in Tegucigalpa:

“The mission reviewed recent economic developments, updated the short-term macroeconomic outlook and assessed progress on the implementation of some structural reforms. In its discussions with the authorities, the mission noted recent achievements in the areas of economic growth and financial sector performance, and supported the authorities’ continued efforts to implement reforms in public sector pension funds and plans to strengthen state-owned enterprises.

“The mission also reviewed the recent performance of fiscal and monetary policies. It stressed the importance of maintaining fiscal discipline and continuing the process of fiscal consolidation by reining in expenditure growth and improving tax collections. While noting some recent improvements in the operational framework for monetary policy, the mission saw scope for further progress in this area, including on liquidity management and forecasting. The mission also recommended focusing macroeconomic policies in general on moderating domestic demand growth to protect the external sector position, and supporting these efforts by the use macro-prudential policy instruments.

“The staff team plans to return to Tegucigalpa before the end of the year to conduct the Article IV consultation mission.

“Finally, the mission thanks authorities and private sector representatives of Honduras for a very open and fruitful dialogue, as well as for their excellent cooperation and hospitality.”