Guide to Investing in Honduras

CAFTA establishes a predictable and secure legal framework, improves transparency, and removes historic barriers to investment for U.S. investors in Honduras.

The Honduran business community believes foreign direct investment will significantly accelerate the economic development and stability of Honduras.

Key Investment Provisions of CAFTA

Sources: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Commercial Service, U.S. International Trade Administration

CAFTA includes an effective, impartial, and transparent investor-state dispute settlement procedure, which provides investors recourse outside of Honduran courts. In addition, under CAFTA, U.S. investors will have recourse to arbitration to enforce certain contractual rights.

All forms of investment are protected under the Agreement, including real property, enterprises, debt, concessions, and similar contracts and intellectual property. U.S. investors enjoy in most circumstances the right to establish, acquire and operate investments in Honduras on an equal footing with local investors, and with investors of other countries.

The agreement draws from U.S. legal principles and practices to provide U.S. investors in Honduran with the same basic set of legal protections that Honduran investors currently enjoy under the U.S. legal system.

Among the rights afforded to U.S. investors (consistent with those found in U.S. law) are due process protections and the right to receive a fair market value for property in the event of an expropriation.

Investor rights are backed by an effective, impartial procedure for dispute settlement that permits submissions to dispute panels by interested parties and transparent panel hearings.

In addition to the changes in investor protections that CAFTA affords, below are listed additional reasons for investing in Honduras:

Source: FIDE, Investment and Exports, a private non-profit organization in Honduras

  • Political and social stability since 1980
  • Series of legal guarantees and fiscal incentives make investment highly favorable
  • Current legislation protects and promotes investment
  • Permanent tax holiday
  • Ample availability of highly productive labor at competitive wages
  • Excellent physical and communications infrastructure
  • Competitive property rental and sales rates
  • Best and most efficient port facilities in Central America. Puerto Cortes and three other Honduran ports have been certified by the International Maritime Organization. The U.S. Coast Guard considers Honduras a model country in terms of port security. There is a U.S. Customs office in Honduras, and the Port of Cortes just became the first Central American (and third Latin American) port certified under the U.S. Customs Container Security Initiative, which allows for pre-clearance of low risk containers and expedited trade
  • Proximity to the United States offering a speedy turnover rate and delivery time (48 hours by sea or 2 hours by air to southern U.S. cities)
  • Inter-oceanic Highway Corridor linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts with a high quality road infrastructure
  • Availability of highly qualified bilingual personnel
  • Numerous personnel training programs
  • Wide variety of non-traditional species of wood-producing trees
  • Diverse climate and high fertile land with excellent potential for low-irrigation agriculture
  • 32 million hectares ideal for cultivation at highly competitive prices

In summary, there has never been a better time to invest in Honduras.

Learn more about how specific investment opportunities in Honduras here.


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