Honduras Bows to IMF on Budget
The Honduran Congress approved the national budget for 2006, under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, which evaluates the Honduran economy as the poorest in the area after Haiti and Nicaragua.

Honduran Finance Minister Hugo Noe said that the 4.39 billion dollar budget is within the parameters agreed with the IMF.

This schedules a fiscal deficit of 2.3 percent of the Honduran GDP and a growth of 4.5 percent, keeping the goals of the original project sent by Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

Three years ago, Honduras presented a document for the IMF to pardon 2 billion dollars of its 5.2 billion foreign debt, to be used to reduce poverty.

Political analyst and leader of the Honduran Democrat Christian Party, Arturo Corrales, said they had to be very careful with the IMF for this cancellation to become a reality.

In the budget, 2.27 billion dollars correspond to the Central Government, and 2.11 billion to other institutions, Honduran Parliament President Roberto Micheletti informed.

The Ministries of Education, Public Health and Security will receive the greatest part, Micheletti stated.