An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Przemek Gajdeczka visited Tegucigalpa during September 6-16 to conduct discussions under the third review of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) and Stand-By Credit Facility (SCF) approved by the IMF Executive Board in October 2010 (see Press Release No. 10/374). The mission met with President Porfirio Lobo, Vice-President Maria Antonieta de Bográn, Central Bank Governor Maria Elena Mondragón, Minister of Finance William Chong Wong and other senior government officials and representatives of the private sector. At the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Gajdeczka issued the following statement:

“The mission had fruitful discussions where it reviewed recent developments, implementation of policies agreed under the program and progress toward meeting the program’s targets for the second half of 2011. It also discussed the macroeconomic outlook for 2012. It confirmed that all performance criteria and structural benchmarks agreed for end-June 2011 have been observed (including the deficit of the consolidated public sector, and net international reserves).

“The authorities reaffirmed their commitment to keeping the deficit of the combined public sector at 3.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2011 and to apply the monetary policy to moderate inflationary pressures and to protect the external position. The mission supports the recent increase of 50 basis points in the monetary policy rate which would help keep end-year inflation within the central bank’s target range. Taking account of the recent deterioration in the global growth outlook, the mission revised its projection of real GDP growth for Honduras in 2012 to 3.6 percent.”