BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

Monday, March 22, 1999 Online Edition 150

At the invitation of its president, noted Guatemalan economist Alejandro Arevalo, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) has organized a consultancy meeting with the participation of well-known personalities from the Central American area and abroad. This event has been scheduled at the behest of the board of directors of both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and will examine the current status of the highly-indebted poor countries. The meeting will take place on Tuesday March 23 at CABEI's headquarters in Tegucigalpa under the joint chairmanship of Gert Rosental, a former director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and Guatemala's current ambassador to the United Nations, and the World Bank's HIPC Director Axel van Trotsenburg. Also participating will be IMF's Walter Pinerua IDB's Federico Cossio and Daniel Figueroa of the Central Bank of Honduras, and scores of economists, journalists and politicians. It is expected that one of the meeting's final recommendations will be the immediate inclusion of Honduras in the HIPC list, a much-needed status that thus far has been refused by international organizations for undetermined reasons.

According to figures released by the Comision Nacional de Banca y Seguros (National Bank and Insurance Commission), the insurance industry collected over Lps. 1,067 million lempiras up to Nov. 30, 1998 -- one month after Hurricane Mitch battered Honduras. The leading insurer is Compania de seguros El Ahorro Hondureno (founded in 1917) with Lps. 192 millions in total revenues; Seguros Atlantida, a relative newcomer to the industry, is a close second with Lps. 166.8 million; in third place is now one-time leader Pan American Insurance Company, posting Lps. 146.9 millions closely followed by the Interamericana and Aseguradora Hondurena. The last two places were occupied by Continental and American Home Assurance. The most profitable company was Seguros Atlantida with Lps. 38.4 million in profits while the only two losers were Aseguradora Hondurena and Seguros Crefisa, the former registering a loss of Lps. 400,000 and the latter second Lps. 6.4 million.

Monday, March 8, 1999 Online Edition 148 BUSINESS BRIEFS

Iridium is global

At a press conference held recently in Tegucigalpa, Mexican executive Alejandro Verastegui announced the launching in the Honduran market of Iridium, a handheld satellite telephone conceived and designed by Motorola, one of America's electronic giants, which built its reputation in the 1930s with mass-produced automobile radios and later on, in l984, introduced the handheld portable cellular phone. The Iridium global system consists of 66 satellites interconnected with six backups. Iridium phones take advantage of this low-orbiting satellite network (780 kilometers or 485 miles above the Earth), allowing the user freedom of movement while operating the phone. According to executives of Celtel, Iridium's representative for Honduras, this system offers a high quality voice as well as interfaces that could be used by portable computers, digital agendas and other communications equipments including faxes, e-mails and data. Cost per telephone unit, which were designed by Motorola and Kyocera (Japan), could run from $1,500 to $3,000 dollars each and the tariff per minute could fluctuate between three and seven dollars, depending on the type of service the user requires. The project had been in the making for a period of 11 years and is expected that 650,000 persons will become consumers around the world during the next two years.

Taca International Airlines, the Salvadoran company founded by New Zealander Lowell Yerex, has reiterated its opposition to Honduras implementing an open sky policy. Mr. Abel Garcia Bonilla, general manager in Honduras of the Grupo Taca, which comprises now-defunct airlines Aviateca, Lanica, and Lacsa, declared his conviction that it is not in the benefit of the country the promulgation of the so-called "aeronautical fifth liberty" that guarantees air carriers access to otherwise

restricted markets. Mr. Garcia claimed in an interview with "Martes Financiero" that the right path for the Honduran government is one of cooperation between tourism authorities and established airlines in order to secure promotion and marketing of the Honduran tourism products in major markets worldwide.