Honduras’s foreign debt climbs to US$11 billion in 6 months

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Honduras’s public and private foreign debt closed the first half of 2021 at US$11 billion, up 1.7% compared to the same period in 2020 (US$10.8 billion), the country’s Central Bank (BCH) reported Friday.

Of the total indebtedness between January and June, US$9 billion correspond to the public and US$1.9 billion to the private sector debt, the monetary authority said in a report.

According to the document, outlays in the first half of 2021 reached US$1 billion, lower than the US$2.1 billion in the same period last year, and US$962.6 million corresponded to loans contracted by the private sector, the BCH said.

92.6% (US$10.2 billion) of Honduras’ total debt was contracted in the medium and long term, and 7.4% (US$814.9 million) in the short term.

Public foreign debt increased in June by US$898.3 million (11%) over the same period in 2020 (US$8.1 billion).

Of the total public debt, US$8.2 billion was contracted by the government, US$566.4 million by the monetary authority, US$234.8 million by non-financial public corporations and US$23.2 million by public financial institutions, BCH said.

A total of 65.9% (US$5.9 billion) of public debt was contracted from multilateral organizations, 21.5% (US$1.9 billion) from commercial creditors, and 12.6% (US$1.1 billion) from bilateral creditors, it added.

The Central Bank added that 82.3% (US$7.4 billion) of the public debt was contracted in dollars, 13.7% (US$1.2 billion) in special drawing rights, 2.9% (US$265.7 million) in euros and 1.1% (US$101.2 million) in other currencies.

By debt instrument, 80.1% (US$7.2 billion) was contracted in loans and 19.9% (US$1.8 billion) in securities issued in the international financial market (Sovereign Bonds), it pointed out.

Private foreign debt between January and June this year amounted to US$1.9 billion, representing a decrease of 6.2% in relation to the same period of 2020, when it reached US$1.8 billion.

Foreign debt service in the period under analysis reached US$1.2 billion, of which US$1 billion was for the payment of capital and US$155 million for interest and commissions, the Honduran agency indicated.