LatinNews Daily - 17 February 2026

*Honduras’ new conservative government led by President Nasry Asfura, which took office on 27 January, has announced the start of talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amid a visit to Tegucigalpa by the Fund which is taking place from 16-20 February. According to Honduras’ new finance minister, Emilio Hernández, in the first day of talks, the Asfura government, which has pledged to reduce the state to make it more efficient, outlined its new priorities which he listed as economic development, working with “fiscal responsibility within the government”, and optimising resources. A statement by the IMF, with which Honduras already has arrangements in place and which had praised the previous leftist Partido Libertad y Refundación (Libre) administration of Xiomara Castro (2022-2026) for its prudent fiscal management, described the visit as a habitual practice after new governments assume office. A 9 February Bloomberg report cites the country’s new central bank (BCH) president, Roberto Lagos, as saying in a phone interview that: “We want to be fiscally responsible and send clear signals to the market that Honduras is a country that wants to attract investment and has favorable macroeconomic conditions”. The same interview cites him as saying that the previous Libre government had begun transferring central bank profits to the government to finance the annual budget, which he said breaches Honduras’ agreement with the IMF. Lagos adds that: “The central bank can’t be financing the executive branch. We need to see how we capitalize those resources, those central bank earnings, in accordance with our commitments.”

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