TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — November 28, 2019 — The President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, announced that as of January 2020, the country will become the destination of new foreign investments as a result of various agreements reached with investors from different sectors.
The maquila sector is one of the industries that has already announced a considerable increase in the investment quota.
Recently, Honduras government and investors of the maquila industry signed an agreement that will place Honduras on equal terms with neighboring countries and that will generate around 15,000 new jobs by 2020.
The agreement includes reforms to the Law of Free Trade Zones, aimed at increasing competitiveness, generating jobs, and providing legal security in order to attract new investments, thus reaffirming the government´s commitment to boost the country´s economic development through the creation of jobs.
“This is definitely good news for all Hondurans, we are talking about a very attractive package that will generate a significant number of new jobs and boost the growth of the maquila industry in Honduras,” said President Hernandez.
Due to foreign investment, the Honduras Manufacturers Association (AHM) estimated that next year, the investment in this sector will be about 410 million dollars. In Honduras, the maquila industry mainly consists of companies in the textile, electronic and services.
The president of the AHM, Mario Canahuati, affirmed that this is a very important step in the path towards the industry consolidation that has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years, and expressed his gratitude to President Hernández for the efforts to place Honduras on equal terms with neighboring countries (El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) since “this allows us to have a good reference to sell the country abroad.”
The maquila is a cornerstone of the economy of Honduras. It has become one of the main generators of jobs and exports, especially in the northern part of the country. Currently the maquila sector distributes around 360 million dollars to buy national goods and 162,000 million dollars in salaries.
Posted November 29, 2019
Source: President Juan Orlando Hernández
