Economy (2006 est.)
GDP: $22.3 billion (PPP) or $9.3 billion (official exchange rate).
Growth rate: 5.5%.
Per capita GDP: $2,900 (PPP).
Per capita income: $ 894.00
Natural resources: Arable land, forests, minerals, and fisheries.
Agriculture (14.1% of GDP): Products--coffee, bananas, shrimp and lobster, sugar, fruits, basic grains, and livestock.
Manufacturing (18% of GDP): Types--textiles and apparel, cement, wood products, cigars, and foodstuffs.
Services (53.2% of GDP).
Trade: Exports (goods)--$1.95 billion: apparel, coffee, shrimp, bananas, palm oil, gold, zinc/lead concentrates, soap/detergents, melons, lobster, pineapple, lumber, sugar, and tobacco. Major market--U.S. (54.4%). Imports (goods)--$5.00 billion: fabrics, yarn, machinery, chemicals, petroleum, vehicles, processed foods, metals, agricultural products, plastic articles, and paper articles. Major source--U.S. (37.5%).

HONDURAS ECONOMY
Honduras is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America, with nearly two-thirds of Hondurans living in poverty. Although historically dependent on exports of coffee and bananas, the economy has diversified over the past 20 years with the development of non-traditional exports such as oriental vegetables, cultivated shrimp, melons, and tourism, and the establishment of a growing maquila industry (primarily assembly of apparel for re-export). The maquila industry employs approximately 130,000 Hondurans. Honduras also has extensive forest, marine, and mineral resources, although widespread slash-and-burn agricultural methods and illegal logging continue to destroy Honduran forests. Family remittances from Hondurans living abroad (mostly in the United States) have risen significantly, to an estimated $2.3 billion in 2006, which represents 15% of the country's foreign exchange earnings and over 20% of its GDP.

The exchange rate through the first quarter of 2007 was 18.89 Honduran Lempira to the dollar, a slight devaluation from the 2005 rate of 18.92. Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, was estimated at approximately 6.0% in 2006 and was projected to remain at that rate in 2007. International reserves totaled $2.6 billion in 2006, up from an estimated $2.23 billion in 2005. Unemployment was estimated at around 28% in 2005.

In 2005, Honduras reached completion point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, qualifying the country for multilateral debt relief.

NATIONAL SECURITY
With the cessation of the 1980s civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, the Honduran armed forces refocused their orientation toward combating transnational threats such as narcoterrorism and organized crime. Honduras supports efforts at regional integration and deployed troops to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 1999, the constitution was amended to abolish the position of military commander in chief of the armed forces, thus codifying civilian authority over the military. Former President Flores also named the first civilian Minister of Defense in the country's history.