The World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) member countries are now offering loans to Honduras.

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

Honduras will be welcoming persons in the coming weeks to discuss the various loan opportunities now available after the IADB board’s decision was made public.
Honduras had almost $450 million in international aid stop after the political crisis in June of 2009, when the European Union, Venezuela, the World Bank and IADB froze loans to the Honduran government.

In February, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank resumed an association with Honduras, which in the past, was a signal that other donors should consider the same.

A mission from the IMF arrived in Tegucigalpa earlier this week to evaluate Honduras’ public finances and the financial plans of the new government.
The IMF team plans to be in Honduras until March 25th, and has held meetings with the Finance Ministry and Central Bank officials, as well as government and business leaders.

Honduran Finance Minister William Chong Wong said that the IMF visits every year, but it did not last year due to the political events at the time.

William Chong Wong

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