The Intervention Commission, which failed to initiate a recovery of Hondutel, has missed its deadline, and now the Honduran government has no idea how to reverse the company's crisis.
President Porfirio Lobo has expressed concern over the crisis facing the state enterprise, as the company's budget has not been approved, hindering the start an investment plan to recover it, as well as making it difficult to pay salaries.
The law regulates the establishment and operation of Employment and Economic Development Zones, enabling the consultation of residents in the areas where they are to be set up.
Laprensa.hn reports that "With 102 votes in favor and 26 against, late on Wednesday deputies approved the Honduran Law on Areas of Employment and Economic Development (ZEDE by its initals in Spanish), better known as model cities. .. "
Congress has passed a law which promotes the conversion of taxicab engines into ones that can use liquefied petroleum gas.
Taxi drivers have asked that the government finance the conversion in exchange for not receiving bonds as compensation for the increase in petroleum. The law states that the Ministry of Finance will create a trust to fund the changes.
Sales of securities by the Honduran government in 2013 have been at interest rates of around 6%.
According to Evelyn Bautista, Vice Minister of Finance for Credit and Public Investment, of the total amount of $419 million authorized by Congress in the General Budget of Revenues and Expenditures, they have managed to issue in the domestic financial system 75% of that figure, and they plan to issue the remaining 25%, which amounts to $105 million.
Seeking to overcome the collapse in public finances, a bill proposes the elimination of 70% of the tax exemptions granted by the state.
The chairman of the Commission for the Review of Exonerations and Tax Exemptions, Marco Ramiro Lobo, announced that it will present a report to the Government on the management of tax exemptions in the country and they will also submit a bill on exemptions to be sent to the National Congress (NC).
The country was the only one in Central America which had no law on the subject.
Telephone companies have until next September 30 to do everything that the law requires to start operating a number portability system by October 1.
According to Deputy Thomas Zambrano, the law will benefit more than seven million users who are subscribed to three mobile companies including Tigo, Claro and Hondutel.
Congress passed after a single debate the operating contract for British Gas Group to explore and exploit oil in the country.
"The Commission issued a favorable opinion after considering that in the negotiation for exploration and exploitation there will be no losses for Honduras ...", reported Laprensa.hn.
"... Based on the Hydrocarbon Law, an agreement was made that is very favorable for the country in case of finding oil, natural gas or other hydrocarbons in the Caribbean".
The main freight union of Central America has issued an ultimatum to the government of El Salvador to modify the collection of the new tax levied at customs offices.
Representatives of these unions which integrate the Central American Council of Transport have given a deadline of May 31 to amend this charge, otherwise on that date, if Congress has not amended the law which created the new tax, the truckers will go on strike for an undefined period causing heavy losses to Central American companies.
The conditions in Petrocaribe will never be the same: the new government of Venezuela will change preferential credit terms for the purchase of oil.
This was explained by the Vice President of Guatemala Roxana Baldetti, who has already met with representatives of Petrocaribe. "Back then, the conditions were the sale of up to 20 thousand barrels per day, of which 40% of the value would be paid in 90 days and the remainder within 25 years, with a rate of 1%. Same as offered to Honduras, reported Laprensa.hn.
Barclay's may have withdrawn from its role as advisor to the Honduran international bond issue because the government could have omitted relevant information in the prospectus for the issuance.
The British firm Barclay's and the Deutsche Bank had been hired by the government of Honduras to provide advice on the placement of an issue of $750 million in sovereign bonds on the international market.
A law decree under discussion in Congress seeks to grant a tax amnesty on penalties and interest to taxpayers with outstanding accounts with the State.
The draft submitted by the secretary of the CN, Rigoberto Chang Castillo, would grant amnesty to tax charges such as taxes and contributions for improvements, fees, surcharges, fines and surcharges, which must be paid no later than July 31 of the current year .
The new Credit Card Act establishes that the users will pay interest on the outstanding balance and not on the entire amount of the original loan.
Among the reforms to the Credit Card Act, approved on its second reading by the Congress of Honduras, was the prohibition of issuers charging interest on interest. Users have to pay interest on their outstanding balance and not on all of the original loan, as was previously charged.
The Congress of Honduras is analyzing lowering credit card interest rates from 60% to 30%, in a rescue plan that includes pension funds buying that debt from the banks.
The rescue plan on overdue credit cards, which uses resources from pension funds, could lead to bankruptcy for these entities, Honduran economists warn.
An advisor to the National Congress, Eval Diaz, told prensa.hn that the debt amounts to about $750 million and through a legislative decision the portfolio would be bought in addition to lowering interest rates on credit cards from 60% to 30%.
Congress has approved a new mining law which eliminates all tax shields for mining companies.
For seven years the country has had an incomplete mining law, as in 2005 the Supreme Court struck down 13 items of this legislation, among which were items relating to the collection of taxes on mining companies.
Laprensa.hn reports that "In the new mining law, it is specified that any exploration awards for non-metallic mineral and gems or precious stones will last a maximum of two years, counted from the date of concession award. Regarding metals, the concessions will be for a maximum of five years counted from the date of award. The basic points of the legislation say the in no way will the mining authority grant mining concessions or benefits, if the corresponding concessionaire does not have an environmental license, issued by the appropriate authority. "