National News

Honduras's Tourism Ministry is launching a campaign for the October 7–10 Morazánica holiday, projecting over 500,000 travelers and encouraging domestic tourism to keep spending within Honduras rather than abroad, while promoting lesser-known destinations alongside traditional coastal and archaeological sites.

The Central Bank of Honduras auctioned $72.8 million in a currency sale on September 11, setting the weighted average exchange rate at L26.8833 per dollar for September 12–14.

The Central Bank forecasts annual inflation reaching 4.98% by December 2026, within its target range of 4.0% ± 1.0 percentage point, with further declines expected ahead.

Honduras's electricity regulator warns that Congress-approved reforms to the power sector remain unsigned and unpublished, delaying their implementation even as daily blackouts persist due to insufficient generation capacity.

Merchandise imports grew 11.3% year-over-year in the first seven months of 2026, driven mainly by increased purchases of fuel and transport equipment, particularly commercial vehicles.

The Interior Ministry announced that public employees will have September 14–15 off to observe Honduras's independence holidays.

The government plans to install 10,000 Starlink antennas across 8,000 schools nationwide, reaching over 640,000 students, and will train more than 60,000 teachers in artificial intelligence through a partnership with Google for Education.

A new electrical control center with 79 automated devices, built with $13.5 million in South Korean aid, began operations in central-southern Honduras to detect faults and accelerate power restoration across the region.

More than 400 interim-contract physicians in Honduras are owed up to nine months of salary; after Friday's failed talks with the Health Ministry yielded no payment date, doctors are continuing nationwide hospital assemblies that suspend scheduled patient care.

New blackouts struck multiple cities including Tegucigalpa on September 11 as the National Dispatch Center (CND) activated emergency measures to manage fuel shortages and forced outages, prompting experts to warn the crisis could worsen.

Finance Minister Emilio Hércules announced that IMF Director Nigel Chalk will lead a technical mission to Honduras to conduct the sixth review of the country's ongoing IMF program.

The official gazette published a salary increase of L1,200 (about $48) per month for central government employees, agreed between the government and three labor unions on August 26.

Honduras's courts ended 2025 with 43,006 unresolved cases out of 129,997 filed, a 33% backlog rate; Supreme Court magistrates say hiring more judges—paired with performance targets and better budgeting—is essential to reduce delays and improve case resolution.

President Nasry Asfura distanced himself from former campaign digital adviser Fernando Cerimedo, an Argentine detained in Bolivia on accusations including attempted femicide, money laundering, and suspected drug trafficking ties, saying Cerimedo is responsible for his own actions.

Honduran labor law requires employers to pay double salary to workers laboring on September 15 (Independence Day) and grant them a compensatory rest day during the same week.

Lawmakers introduced a bill to create Procafín, a nonprofit financing mechanism that would negotiate lower-interest loans for coffee farmers and reduce reliance on informal lending, funded by a per-sack export contribution.

A congressional decree expanding the temporary mandates of National Electoral Council (CNE) counselors expired today, but the officials will continue serving while lawmakers seek consensus on permanent replacements.

Year-on-year inflation in Honduras reached 6.20% in August 2026, driven by rising fuel, food, and electricity costs amid adverse weather that has damaged agricultural output and pushed 64% of the goods and services in the consumer basket higher.

Honduras's electrical system operates near capacity with insufficient reserves to handle sudden failures, said CREE commissioner Leonardo Deras, noting that Honduras lost 1,800 of 2,400 megawatts during this week's regional outage—more than neighboring countries.

Tourism Minister Andrés Ehrler projects that about 500,000 Hondurans will travel domestically during the Morazán Week holiday, generating over 600 million lempiras ($24 million) in spending, with popular destinations including Tela, La Ceiba, Omoa, and the Bay Islands.

Honduras's Energy Ministry announced price increases for all fuel types effective September 14, with premium gasoline and kerosene rising by up to L3.86 per gallon in Tegucigalpa and similar increases in San Pedro Sula, while domestic cooking gas remains subsidized.

Honduras's Supreme Court declared Sept. 14 a judicial holiday for Independence Day festivities but ordered all scheduled hearings and essential court operations to proceed as normal.

Honduras's Education Ministry announced a four-day school closure from September 14 through 17, combining holidays for Independence Day (September 15) and Honduran Teachers' Day (September 17), with classes resuming on September 18.

Honduras's Education Ministry has set September 28 to October 2 as the school break for Morazán Week, a five-day closure for preschool through secondary students that differs from the October 7–9 public holiday for workers.

Honduras's social-security institute (IHSS) will operate only its emergency and hemodialysis units on September 15, Honduras's Independence Day, while all other services remain closed for the national holiday.

Port Vale announced that Honduran forward Keyrol Figueroa, 20, has been called to the national team for the Concacaf Nations League international break, making him unavailable for the English club's upcoming League Two fixtures.

Honduras's economy expanded 4.8% in the first seven months of 2026, officials said, driven by employment generation, consumer spending, and business activity that sustained growth momentum through mid-year.

Honduras's power regulator announced it has contracted two new fuel suppliers to help reduce nationwide electricity blackouts, a longstanding problem affecting the country's grid reliability.

Diana Medina, the former head of the child-prosecution office, called on Honduras to adopt a specialized law coordinating institutional response to sexual violence against children, citing Guatemala's model and Honduras's international obligations to protect minors.

A weather system will bring scattered afternoon showers and isolated thunderstorms to Honduras's eastern, northern, and central regions on Friday, with Gracias a Dios, Atlántida, and Colón expecting the heaviest rainfall of up to 10 millimeters, while temperatures peak at 41°C in Choluteca.