Caribbean & Central America - 19 October 2004
HONDURAS: Pastor heads early presidential poll
Miguel Pastor, the mayor of Tegucigalpa, and a member of the ruling Partido Nacional (PN), is topping the polls for the November 2005 presidential elections. Pastor received 23% of public support, according to the latest survey carried out by LatiNetwork Dichter & Neira published in the national daily El Heraldo.
A mere 10% of respondents backed Porfirio Lobo Sosa (PN), the president of Congress, who also belongs to the PN. The results of the poll might deter Lobo Sosa from running against Pastor in a potentially damaging party primary election scheduled for next February. Political pressure has been building up against the IMF-sponsored austerity measures championed by the incumbent Maduro administration with public-sector unions, starting with the teachers, up in arms over pay. Both Pastor and Sosa are promising some pretty lavish spending to court public support. The leading candidate for the opposition Partido Liberal in the poll was Manuel Zelaya, who garnered 7% support.
|
ECONOMIC OVERVIEW: HONDURAS
|
|
The Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica expects the economy to grow by 3.8% this year. The government is arguing that claims by businessmen that a deregulated fuel market would produce lower prices are misplaced. It points out that although fuel prices are lower in Guatemala than they are in Honduras, this is largely due to the fact that Guatemalan duty on fuel is lower and that there is fierce competition between fuel importers and distributors. In Honduras there are only three companies active in the fuel market. The Honduran fuel importers' association claims that cooking gas in El Salvador is 50% cheaper than it is in Honduras, thanks to government subsidies. Outlook The World Economic Forum ranked the country as 97 in its world competitiveness
ranking. This put it above only Bolivia (98) and Paraguay (100) in Latin
America. The study covered 104 countries around the world. |