As of November 2019, the external debt of the private sector reached Ch$1,722 million, which is 5% higher than that reported at the end of 2018.
From the Central Bank of Honduras report:
At the end of November 2019, the total external debt (public and private) registered a balance of US$9,031.0 million, higher by US$14.7 million than the one presented in December 2018.
Private investors are planning to build a four-lane highway, 31 kilometers long, which would serve as a beltway for vehicles passing through the municipalities of San Bernardino, Mazatenango and Cuyotenango, department of Suchitepéquez.
This new investment would be executed in a format similar to that of the Via Alterna del Sur (VAS), which is private and operates on a toll basis, and crosses the southern municipalities of the metropolitan area between these Villa Nueva and Villa Canales, in the department of Guatemala.
In Costa Rica, the growth of credit granted in U.S. currency to the private sector is the lowest in a decade.
Credit to the private sector does not show signs of recovery and, instead, the data available until August show an additional deterioration that took it to its lowest point in 10 years, reporting a year-on-year fall of -0.01%.
An analysis prepared by the advisory firm Frecuencia Económica indicates that the low growth is explained by the contraction of loans in dollars, since the portfolio in colones shows a 4.2% growth among the banking system, while the portfolio in dollars presents a fall of 3.9%.
After more than 40 days of protests and looting, Honduran businessmen report that about 50 companies have been affected, and several stores have already been closed.
Preliminary reports from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tegucigalpa (CCIT), establish that among the most affected businesses are supermarket chains, appliance stores, fast food restaurants and microenterprises dedicated to the marketing of clothing and footwear.
The business sector is concerned about the way in which the demonstrations have developed in recent days, generating "an unsustainable cost to the Honduran economy.”
After the Honduran government approved decrees PCM-026-2018 and PCM-027-2019, the country's doctors and teachers began demonstrations with the aim of repealing them, because they argue that they will be able to fire government employees and privatize public services.
The greater interest in studying social sciences and the lesser inclination for training in technical or scientific areas may be partly because of the preference of professionals for employment in a government institution rather than in the private sector.
According to data from the National Council of Rectors (Conare), between 2006 and 2016, in Costa Rica the careers in the area of Social Sciences registered the highest growth according to the proportion of graduates, going from 36.2% to 45.5% of the total number of students.
In 2017 in the Dominican Republic, private investments in the construction sector totaled $750 million, above the $687 million reported by the government.
The Dominican Chamber of Construction presented the "Study of the Economic and Labor Impact of the Construction Industry", which details that inthe last ten years construction has been the second largest sector of the Dominican economy. In 2017 it represented almost 10% of nominal GDP (US $7,455 MM).
Mortgage and personal loans accounted for most of the increase in domestic credit to the private sector between February 2017 and the same month in 2018.
According to figures from the Superintendency of Banks, in the second month of the year, the credit portfolio of the private sector totaled $51.487 billion, exceeding by 6.7% the $48.257 billion reported in February 2017.
For this year, growth in banking credit to the private sector is projected at between 6% and 9%, but the year-on-year increase registered up to March was only 4%.
Figures from Banco de Guatemala show that during the year 2017 credit to the private sector grew at a monthly average of 5.17%, and the lowest increases were reported in November and December when the amount increased compared to the same months of 2016 by 4.9% and 3.8% respectively.
Speeding up the execution of public projects and creating a public-private entity that enhances exports, are some of the proposals put forward by the business association to reactivate different economic sectors.
From a statement issued by the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama:
Although we expect growth of the Panamanian economy of approximately 5.4% for this year 2018, such increase continues to be supported by economic sectors linked to foreign trade, such as the Panama Canal, ports and airports.
The union of Guatemalan industrialists will propose a development agenda, with the aim of improving economic conditions and recovering some of the investment lost in recent years.
When public resources are very limited, as it happens in Central American countries, association schemes between the State and the private sector become essential for developing the infrastructure that the region so badly needs.
A report from the Secretariat of Economic Integration (Sieca) states that "...In Central America, growing fiscal constraints faced by the countriespublic sectors make it increasingly difficult to achieve efforts for long-term infrastructure projects.In this context, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) become relevant as an alternative measure of financing where private participation sector is facilitated in partnership with the government, with the aim of improving quality of services, reducing operating costs and capital, generating additional income, improving public management and minimizing budget spending.
Trade and construction activities recorded the lowest demand for bank credit, which grew 6% in the first five months of the year compared to the same period in 2016.
Following trade and construction, electricity and water are the worst performers according to figures from the Guatemalan Superintendency of Banks.
The decrease in the granting of credits to the business sector has been attributed to legal uncertainty caused by the case of the hydroelectric stations Oxec I and II.
Datafrom the Bank of Guatemala indicates that as of April 27, the balance of credit granted by the banking system to the private sector amounted to $24 billion, 5.6% more than in the same period in the previous year, but only 0.4% more than in December of last year. In the case of OffShore entities, the figures indicate that loans granted by these institutions up to April 20 totalled $1860 million, recording a year-on-year change of -1.5% and -4.2% compared to December 2016.
Consumption by private companies and households went up by 4.6% in the first half of the year, exceeding the average growth rate of 2% of its main trading partners.
An example of the pace at which private consumption has been growing in the country is the relevance it has taken on in the bank's loan portfolios. Deputy general manager of Banco Nacional de Costa Rica, Bernardo Alfaro, explained that"... These kinds of operations rose from 28% of total credit seven years ago to 32% today."
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