Tegucigalpa.
the private sector of Honduras is in a “state of calamity” due to the coronavirus pandemic, which already leaves 3,354 dead and 134,111 contagious, and the effects of tropical storms Eta and Iota, so it rejects the idea of a new quarantine to slow the uncontrolled progression of the disease.
“The private company is in a state of calamity, we have ten months of confinement and walking (working) half steam on the covid-19 and in November we were affected by two tropical storms,” he said in an interview with Efe on President of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP), Joan Carles Sikaffy.
The natural phenomena mainly affected the Sula Valley, in the Caribbean department of Cortés, which extends to a part of its neighbor Yoro (north), a region that produces 45% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the which has left “very serious consequences” for Honduras, he noted.
Eight out of ten Hondurans have “serious problems getting their resources,” so they live in “precariousness,” which, he noted, worries private enterprise.
90% of Honduras ’business fabric is micro and small business, one of the sectors most affected by coronavirus and storms Eta and Iota, And the “big constraints” have not allowed its reactivation, he added.
New quarantine
Sikaffy rejected the idea of imposing a new quarantine in Honduras, a measure proposed by the authorities in the face of the increase in covid-19 cases in the country.
A quarantine is “out of context, we have to take care of ourselves, take responsibility each of us,” stressed the employer, who indicated that the confinement “It will bring back many more poor people” to the country, where informality has increased.
“There are people who go out to work today, for lunch today or tomorrow, if this source of income is taken away from them, it throws more people into poverty, this is very serious, we can reach an unprecedented social breakdown. in the country, ”he stressed.
Honduras is going through a “turning point” and right now there is “a great opportunity to rebuild the country,” as multilateral agencies have offered funding, so the government and entrepreneurs must formulate projects that have a ” greater impact “on the population, he explained.
Honduras, a country with 9.3 million inhabitants, has 134,111 cases of covid-19 and 3,354 deaths, and since the end of last December there has been a resurgence of the pandemic that is leading to the limit in the health system.
join forces
Almost all sectors of the economy were closed last March, so mechanisms such as the suspension of contracts were applied, and the opening of the most essential sectors was allowed at the end of last July.
However, economic recovery has been slow, with Sikaffy demanding that the Government “join forces” with all sectors to “build the country together”.
The main challenge for the Honduran private company is to rehabilitate and rebuild what was destroyed by storms Eta and Iota last November, and economic recovery, he warned.
Reactivating the weak Honduran economy means “giving companies credit conditions, a guarantee fund that the government must put in order to recover,” he explained, inviting entrepreneurs to reinvent themselves to resume business.
The crisis alleged by employers is evident in the unemployment figures of one million people in the formal sector, and more than 1.5 million people with “serious income problems” in the informal sector.
The damage they left And it’s Iota they are equivalent to about 46 billion lempiras (1,896 million dollars), according to a report of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal) quoted by the industralist.
He noted that the covid-19 pandemic has hit the Honduran economy and has caused losses of at least 18% of GDP, equivalent to 120 billion lempiras ($ 4,946,000).
Reconstruction plan
In his view, the National Reconstruction Plan announced by the Honduran Government must prioritize attacking “human tragedy, the rehabilitation of what was destroyed by storms and the revival of the economy.”
For that Honduras requires attracting foreign investment, but the country must walk “on a path of reconstruction of not being so vulnerable to climate change,” Sikaffy noted.
The Government must also guarantee foreign investors “certainty, clear rules, strong institutionalization so that they have the security that their investments are” safe in the country “.
The country must also fight corruption, a problem “endemic to the country that must be eradicated, we could not stand a second longer with issues of corruption,” said the president of the COHEP, The main bosses of Honduras.
“Corruption must be attacked from the root,” said Sikaffy, who added that the main problem with this scourge is that “there is impunity.”
The business leader also demanded that the health authorities “make every effort to have the vaccine (against the covid-19) As fast as possible “.
The Honduran Institute of Social Security (IHSS) in Honduras has announced the purchase of 1.4 million doses of covid-19 vaccines from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, so the COHEP has given a guarantee of 3, $ 4 million.