LatinNews Daily - 17 January 2024

*Honduras’ 128-member unicameral legislature has approved the 2024 State budget proposal for L407.14bn (US$16.49bn). The approval of the budget is up from the L392.52bn budget approved for 2023 which in turn was up 8.9 % on 2022 and is a boost for the leftist Partido Libertad y Refundación (Libre) government led by President Xiomara Castro. A statement by the legislature posted on social media states that the budget contains the highest assignation of resources in the country’s history for public investment and social spending, with L51.74bn assigned for social investment (namely social protection, health, and education) and L44.72bn for productive investment and gross fixed capital formation. According to the same statement, the budget includes L596m for the government’s productive roads programme, L592m to repair the primary and secondary road network, L2.33bn to repair schools, L578m for the construction of eight hospitals, and L295m to go on the design and start of construction on five dams. The statement highlights that the budget does not include new taxes and tax take is expected to come in at 17% of GDP.