La Junta Monetaria decidió mantener en 3.50% la tasa de interés líder de política monetaria, una decisión adoptada de manera unánime el 29 de abril, en respuesta al actual panorama internacional y sus posibles implicaciones sobre la economía guatemalteca en lo que resta de 2026.

Según explicó Álvaro González Ricci, presidente de la Junta Monetaria, durante una conferencia de prensa citada en el comunicado oficial, el pronóstico de inflación para abril se ubica próximo al 3%, lo que refuerza la cautela frente a los riesgos derivados del escenario global.

El dato más reciente revela que la inflación en Guatemala alcanzó 2.50% en marzo de 2026, cifra que muestra un alza respecto a febrero, cuando se situó en 1.56%.

Sin embargo, este nivel permanece por debajo del límite inferior del objetivo definido por la Junta Monetaria —establecido en 4.0% +/- 1 punto porcentual—, lo que refleja condiciones de baja presión inflacionaria pese a los incrementos internacionales en los precios de los combustibles.

La Junta enfatizó que la reciente aceleración de la inflación está asociada principalmente a presiones de origen externo, específicamente al aumento de los precios internacionales del petróleo generado por el conflicto bélico en Oriente Medio y el correspondiente bloqueo del Estrecho de Ormuz.

La institución subrayó la persistencia de condiciones favorables para el crecimiento económico mundial en 2026 y 2027, impulsadas por la resiliencia del consumo privado y unas condiciones financieras internacionales aún ventajosas.

No obstante, la permanencia de conflictos geopolíticos y políticas comerciales restrictivas incrementa la incertidumbre y los riesgos a la baja.

El conflicto en Oriente Medio ha motivado un aumento pronunciado en el precio internacional del petróleo, factor que la Junta Monetaria considera determinante en la formación de expectativas inflacionarias. La institución advirtió que una prolongación o intensificación de la crisis podría generar presiones adicionales sobre la inflación importada, modificando el escenario inflacionario nacional.

Al respecto, González Ricci afirmó que las proyecciones actuales contemplan que la inflación se mantenga dentro del rango meta en 2026 y 2027, aunque las predicciones son susceptibles de cambios dependiendo de la evolución de los mercados energéticos internacionales.

La Junta también evaluó que la mayoría de los indicadores económicos de corto plazo mantienen un crecimiento positivo, en sintonía con las estimaciones de expansión económica que sitúan el crecimiento entre 3.1% y 5.1% para 2026 y entre 3.0% y 5.0% para 2027, según lo consignado por la Junta Monetaria en su sesión del 29 de abril. Este resultado refleja, en parte, la capacidad de la economía guatemalteca para enfrentar choques externos y mantener estabilidad en sus principales variables macroeconómicas.

El indicador de tasa de interés líder permanece en 3.50% por tercer mes consecutivo, reafirmando la postura de cautela adoptada en un entorno de alta volatilidad global.

La Junta Monetaria reiteró su compromiso de implementar las acciones necesarias para que la inflación se mantenga dentro del rango objetivo, mediante un monitoreo continuo de indicadores económicos nacionales e internacionales susceptibles de impactar en el nivel general de precios.

El comunicado reiteró que cualquier modificación futura en la política monetaria dependerá de la evolución del contexto internacional, especialmente en lo referente al mercado de energéticos y a los efectos derivados de crisis geopolíticas.

FIRST ON FOX: The Superior Court of California is ordering Kevin Morris, an attorney notoriously dubbed as Hunter Biden’s «sugar brother,» to pay $50,000 to former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler and Marco Polo, the conservative nonprofit research group he founded, to cover legal expenses.

The ruling ends a protracted dispute over whether Ziegler impersonated a Democratic strategist to pry sensitive information out of Morris about the Hunter Biden laptop during a conversation over the phone in 2022.

To Jennifer Holliday, Ziegler’s attorney, the judgment doesn’t even begin to make up for three years of legal battles.

«It’s not really how I envisioned it would play out, and I don’t think that’s how the Constitution envisions that something like this would play out — which is why we filed a petition with the Supreme Court of the United States to review,» Holliday told Fox News Digital.

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«I certainly hope that they will take a really hard look at what happened here because this is not a situation that should have ever happened,» she added.

Holliday is asking the Supreme Court to evaluate California’s anti-SLAPP law, arguing the state’s protections for free speech actually only worsened the case by prolonging what she believes were weak accusations.

A person familiar with Morris’ case called the conclusion a formality and downplayed the Supreme Court filing as unlikely to receive a review, noting that Ziegler’s representation had requested as much as $300,000 to conclude the case.

Morris’s legal battle with Ziegler began when Morris picked up the phone and spoke with someone whom he thought was a Democratic operative about the laptop back in 2022. But when, after the call, he received an image depicting a squid, the phrase «NOTHING IS BEYOND OUR REACH,» and the words «Marco Polo,» Morris realized his mistake.

Morris, who reportedly loaned Hunter Biden approximately $6.5 million to bankroll his lavish lifestyle, concluded the caller must have been Ziegler, a Republican strategist who had worked on combing through the contents of the laptop and who had gone on to found Marco Polo. He also previously worked in the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy as a policy analyst.

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Morris accused Ziegler of harassment, criminal harassment, criminal impersonation, false light and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The case soon soured for Morris when he failed to establish a connection between his phone call and Ziegler.

With the suit in the rearview mirror, Holliday marveled that Morris had kept up his case for three years without ever offering evidence that the call had been linked to Ziegler.

«There was no phone number that was ever presented to the court, to the Court of Appeal, to me, in discovery, anywhere,» Holliday said.

Asked about whom the caller might have been, Holliday said she was not at liberty to discuss the issue.

Asked about the case, Ziegler said Morris was an enabler of Hunter Biden who had knowingly brought a weak case against him.

«Morris is the one responsible for all the bull—- that Hunter pulled over the last couple years,» Ziegler said, referring to funding Morris reportedly gave the younger Biden for his legal services, including paying his rent, buying his art and lending him a private jet, among other payments.

Fox News Digital reported earlier this year that Morris donated $29,900 to now-former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s, D-Calif., gubernatorial campaign weeks before the campaign collapsed after several sexual assault allegations emerged. 

Swalwell, who was dubbed as Hunter Biden’s «biggest cheerleader» in the House, met Morris multiple times during the House Oversight Committee investigations into Hunter’s business dealings. 

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Garrett Ziegler, author of the Report on the Biden Laptop, is photographed outside the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Del., on Sept. 7, 2023. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

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Ziegler’s representation has secured a debtor’s exam request for Morris if he hasn’t paid the $50,000 sum ordered by the court within 30 days.

Fox News Digital reached out to Morris’s attorney.

News that a local steel manufacturing company would soon pour $43.4 million into expanding its Michigan-based operations prompted praise from the White House — but not for the state’s Democratic governor.

«Democrats like Gretchen Whitmer spent decades talking about fixing broken trade deals and creating manufacturing jobs here in America for American workers,» Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, told Fox News Digital, referring to the Michigan governor who is often floated as a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2028.

«President Trump is actually delivering — and he’s delivering with the same agenda of tariffs, deregulation.»

The investment underscores President Donald Trump’s recent restructuring on tariffs for steel, aluminum and copper — even as both parties claimed victory over Michigan’s expanding steel production.

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«Michigan is on the move and open for business, competing for and winning big projects in industries like steel manufacturing,» Whitmer said in a statement.

The investment, made by the Adrian Steel Company, would create at least 40 new jobs as the company expands its existing facilities in the southeast part of the state through a new 112,000-square-foot addition, according to the governor’s office.

The venture is Adrian Steel’s largest expansion since 1953, according to Whitmer’s office.

«The expansion will enhance Adrian Steel’s manufacturing capabilities with additional space dedicated to raw material storage, cutting, forming, welding, painting, assembly, office functions and shipping operations,» Whitmer’s office said in a press release.

Whitmer’s office said the State had attracted the expansion, in part, through state-level incentives.

The state will bolster Adrian Steel’s venture through a State Essential Services Assessment (SESA), a kind of tax break for manufacturers that could be worth up to $228,750, according to Whitmer’s office.

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 27, 2025. (Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)

In the past, Whitmer has looked critically on Trump’s tariffs, claiming that their overall effect has hindered industry development in Michigan.

«The pain of these increased costs from tariffs has not been offset by any of the promised economic gain,» Whitmer said in a press release earlier this month. «Michigan’s industries have been hit hard, with a recent analysis finding that the tariffs cost U.S. automakers $35 billion last year. Tariffs are estimated to have cost working families $1,000 per year.»

Under Trump’s re-worked tariff framework announced earlier this month, products made almost entirely of aluminum, steel or copper would pay a flat 50% tariff on their full value, while derivatives made only mostly of one of those elements would only pay 25%.

The new parameters also create lower rates for foreign products sourced from American materials and drop the tariffs entirely for products comprised of less than 15% steel, aluminum or copper.

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President Donald Trump makes a fist upon arrival at Miami International Airport in Miami, on April 11, 2026. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

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«This buildout — and the continued health of these vital American industries — is only possible through the continued implementation and strengthening of the President’s Section 232 tariff programs,» the White House said.

Whitmer’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.