National News

Honduras will field its largest-ever delegation of 110 athletes across 27 sports at the Central American and Caribbean Games in the Dominican Republic, July 24–August 8, competing in four of five regional venues.

Honduras's fuel subsidy has already cost 860 million lempiras (about $34.5 million) against a budgeted 680 million, with full-year costs projected at 1.2–1.3 billion lempiras, prompting the Finance Ministry to plan internal budget adjustments and consider narrowing the subsidy to lower-income households.

A lawmaker from the Libre party introduced a bill to establish a national registry of people convicted of sexual crimes, to be administered by the Supreme Court and accessible publicly to help prevent re-offending and protect vulnerable populations.

Congress is considering a reform to exclude performance bonuses, gratuities, and overtime pay from income-tax calculations, a move an economist says would reward worker effort but warns could enable tax evasion without proper state oversight.

Honduras's transport authority has seized 31 vehicles operating for Uber, InDriver, and VIP taxi services since February, citing lack of permits, while the ride-hailing platforms are scheduled to meet with Congress on June 10 to discuss regulatory frameworks.

The Public Ministry is investigating Salvador Nasralla's 2025 presidential campaign for alleged use of third-party accounts to receive unreported donations, fundraising in the United States, and possible transfers exceeding legal limits.

Though Tropical Storm Boris poses no direct threat, a separate tropical depression forming off the Pacific coast will push moisture inland, bringing heavy rainfall to eight southwestern, central, and southern departments, with risks of flooding and landslides.

Academic research indicates that more than 500,000 older adults in Honduras currently live in poverty, according to Radio HRN.

An examination by the international organization Witness of three of 37 leaked audios known as HondurasGate concluded that one recording, in which former president Juan Orlando Hernández allegedly asks current president Nasry Asfura for funds to create a digital operation against leftist movements in Mexico, Colombia, and Honduras, is probably genuine, while two others show signs of AI manipulation.

The Supreme Court has approved online filing for criminal-record certificates by Hondurans overseas, eliminating the need for physical documents and aiming to speed up migration regularization in Spain and elsewhere.

Tropical Storm Cristina is expected to bring heavy rains to multiple zones across Honduras this week, according to the National Center for Meteorology.

Congress is moving toward approving a structural reform that would divide the state-owned ENEE into three separate commercial entities for generation, transmission, and distribution, with energy experts warning the changes open a path to privatization and could weaken the utility's financial stability.

The National Congress approved expanding a law that shields agroindustrial lands and investments to also cover energy and tourism projects, while adding a clause affirming the law's compatibility with indigenous peoples' right to free, prior consultation on communal lands.

Honduras, where a woman is killed every 32 hours, has approved sweeping Penal Code reforms raising femicide sentences to as high as 60 years and mandating specialized courts to handle gender-violence cases.

The central bank auctioned $87.1 million in its June 8 foreign-exchange sale, setting the weighted average exchange rate at L26.6719 per dollar for June 9.

Honduras is piloting an anti-fraud digital licensing system in Tegucigalpa that ties first-time applicants to one exam center until the platform expands nationwide.

Honduras's Medical College escalated its strike into an eighth day of nationwide assemblies at health facilities, demanding answers on layoffs, reinstatements, back pay, and formal contracts for physician managers.

Finance Minister Emilio Hércules said the government has begun distributing the 14th-month bonus to public employees, a payment expected to inject roughly 7 billion lempiras (about $280 million) into the economy by June 10.

Frequent blackouts are crippling Honduras's micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, with the sector reporting estimated daily losses of 15 million lempiras (about $600,000) as outages lasting up to six hours halt production and sales.

From January through April 2026, the Honduran government received $156.3 million in international disbursements, directing $145.3 million to budget support and $11 million to agriculture, energy, and education projects.

Honduras's public-sector debt reached $9.35 billion by April 2026, up $50 million from December 2025, with the central government accounting for the largest share.

Honduras's public external debt reached $10.75 billion as of April 2026, with 81.2% denominated in US dollars, 14.8% in IMF special drawing rights, and smaller portions in euros, yen, and other currencies.

Business leaders warn that persistent inflation and rising energy costs remain the top concerns for Honduras's economy, with April's year-over-year inflation reaching 5.56% and Middle East instability driving up fuel prices.

Honduras's energy regulator (CREE) has warned that electricity rates will likely rise again in the coming quarter due to volatile and rising fuel prices.

Elections for new leaders of Honduras's electoral bodies—the CNE and TJE—will likely slip from this year into January 2027 due to lack of consensus among congressional factions, says the head of Congress's Electoral Commission.

The World Bank recommended splitting Honduras's state power utility ENEE into three separate units for generation, transmission, and distribution in 2007, but the government did not act; losses have since grown from 25% to 38% of revenue, and experts say the breakup is now urgent.

Agriculture Minister Moisés Molina says no cattle deaths have been reported from the ongoing drought affecting 75 municipalities, though he acknowledged that poor preparation and lack of feed—compounded by the dry spell—are causing animal losses in some areas.

The Public Prosecutor's Office has summoned witnesses to testify in a criminal investigation into Salvador Nasralla on allegations of fraudulent administration of public funds, while a clean-politics unit demands the Liberal Party provide emergency disclosure of Nasralla-linked bank accounts and a mysterious U.S. corporate registration.

Representatives of corporations linked to Bahrain's royal family visited Honduras to explore up to $2 billion in projects spanning a pharmaceutical plant, oil refinery, and e-visa system, potentially creating 1,000 jobs in the initial phase.

The government is pursuing an electrical-system reform that would restructure the national utility company (ENEE) into separate generation, transmission, and distribution units to reduce annual losses exceeding 16 billion lempiras and free resources for health, education, and infrastructure.