The new Honduran government led by President Porfirio Lobo was seeking an agreement with the IMF in a bid to get loans and unlock aid from other credit organizations. If an agreement is achieved with the IMF, Honduras will receive resources from the World Bank and from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which cut off aid to Honduras since former President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a June 2009 coup. The World Bank and the IDB had respectively pledged USD90 million and USD97 million in aid for Honduras in 2009. By yearend, however, the two organizations had only given Honduras USD47.5 million and USD32.8 million respectively. International financial assistance is imperative after the June coup led to diplomatic isolation. “Never before had (a president) inherited such a difficult financial situation, worsened by the world economic crisis and (domestic) political crisis,” new Finance Minister William Chong Wong said, adding that Lobo took over the nation with only USD50 million in government coffers. (XInhua)
