LatinNews Daily - 18 July 2024

*Honduras’ foreign minister, Eduardo Enrique Reina, has rejected the US State Department’s latest investment climate report on Honduras after it highlighted “significant uncertainty” felt by investors due to Honduran “government policies and legislation” which has left investors with limited opportunities. According to the 2024 annual investment report on Honduras, “in recent months increasing numbers of companies report they are experiencing challenges operating in the country”. It says that these include difficulties in operations due to the central bank’s “strict and often onerous process governing the sale of dollars”, along with “uncertainty surrounding the implementation of pending legislation… politically motivated threats of criminal prosecution and expropriation of private assets, unreliable and expensive electricity, non-tariff measures against US  imports, and increasingly frequent armed land invasions”. The report states that over 200 US companies operate enterprises in Honduras. Writing on social media, Reina said that the government “reject[s] and condemn(s) any unilateral report issued by one State without the authorisation of another”, adding that “these reports do not contribute to the best spirit of cordial relations between states”.