Ambassador Larry Leon PALMER
embassy: Avenida La Paz, Apartado Postal No. 3453, Tegucigalpa
mailing address: American Embassy, APO AA 34022, Tegucigalpa
telephone: [504] 238-5114, 236-9320
FAX: [504] 236-9037

Flag description:
three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and blue with
five blue, five-pointed stars arranged in an X pattern centered in
the white band; the stars represent the members of the former
Federal Republic of Central America - Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua; similar to the flag of El
Salvador, which features a round emblem encircled by the words
REPUBLICA DE EL SALVADOR EN LA AMERICA CENTRAL centered in the white
band; also similar to the flag of Nicaragua, which features a
triangle encircled by the word REPUBLICA DE NICARAGUA on top and
AMERICA CENTRAL on the bottom, centered in the white band

Economy Honduras

Economy - overview:
Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere
with an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income and massive
unemployment, is banking on expanded trade under the U.S.-Central
America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and on debt relief under the
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The country has
met most of its macroeconomic targets, and began a three-year IMF
Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PGRF) program in February
2004. Growth remains dependent on the economy of the US, its largest
trading partner, on commodity prices, particularly coffee, and on
reduction of the high crime rate.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$18.79 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
4.2% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $2,800 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 12.7%
industry: 32.1%
services: 55.3% (2004 est.)

Labor force:
2.47 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 34%, industry 21%, services 45% (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate:
28.5% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line:
53% (1993 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 0.6%
highest 10%: 42.7% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
56.3 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
7% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
24.1% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.467 billion
expenditures: $1.722 billion, including capital e