Honduras and IMF Negotiate New Loan
The Honduran government is negotiating on Friday a new loan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to guarantee meeting its macroeconomic goals and reducing poverty.

"The first thing is to check the figures planned until 2009, improve the investment prospects, prioritize growth, and alleviate financial difficulties," Finance Minister Rebeca Santos asserted.

But Democratic Unification (UD) opposition party said the neoliberal policies applied boost privatization, do not palliate the prevailing poverty in over 70 percent of the population, and increase insecurity.

The Executive´s assertions in the opposite sense are demagogic, and the administration does not give employment choices to its inhabitants, who live in anxiety, due to violence, which take the lives of ten Hondurans per day, UD said.

In this respect, President Manuel Zelaya accepted the need to implement immediate economic and social changes to meet postponed demands.