ton, Detroit, and Jacksonville

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador James Francis CREAGAN (29 July 1996)
embassy : Avenida La Paz, Apartado Postal No. 3453, Tegucigalpa
mailing address: American Embassy, APO AA 34022, Tegucigalpa
telephone: [504] 36-9320, 38-5114
FAX: [504] 36-9037

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

Economy - overview: Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the
Western Hemisphere. Agriculture employs nearly two-thirds of the labor
force and produces two-thirds of exports. Productivity remains low.
Manufacturing, mining, and construction account for 30 % of GDP and
generate 20% of exports. Basic problems include rapid population
growth, high underemployment, inflation, a lack of basic services, a
large and inefficient public sector, and the dependence of the export
sector mostly on coffee and bananas, which are subject to sharp price
fluctuations.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $11.5 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 3% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,000 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture : 28%
industry: 30%
services: 42% (1995)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 25.4% (1996)

Labor force:
total: 1.3 million
by occupation: agriculture 62%, services 20%, manufacturing 9%,
construction 3%, other 6% (1985)

Unemployment rate: 15%; underemployed about 40% (1996 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $655 million
expenditures: $850 million, including capital expenditures of $150
million (1997 est.)

Industries: sugar, coffee, textiles, clothing, wood products

Industrial production growth rate: 10% (1992 est.)

Electricity - capacity: 605,900 kW (1995)

Electricity - production: 2.742 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 361 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture -