The economy of Honduras is based mostly on agriculture, which accounted for 22% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 1999. Leading export coffee ($340 million) accounted for 22% of total Honduran export revenues. Bananas, formerly the country's second-largest export until being virtually wiped out by 1998's Hurricane Mitch, recovered in 2000 to 57% of pre-Mitch levels. Cultivated shrimp are another important export sector. Since the late 1970s, towns in the north began industrial production through maquiladoras, especially in San Pedro Sula and Puerto Cortés.

Honduras has extensive forest, marine, and mineral resources, although widespread slash and burn agricultural methods continue to destroy Honduran forests. Unemployment is estimated at around 28%. The Honduran economy grew 4.8% in 2000, recovering from the Mitch-induced recession (-1.9%) of 1999. The Honduran maquiladora sector, the third-largest in the world, continued its strong performance in 2000, providing employment to over 120,000 and generating more than $528 million in foreign exchange for the country. Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, was 10.1% in 2000, down slightly from the 10.9% recorded in 1999. The country's international reserve position continued to be strong in 2000, at slightly over $1 billion. Remittances from Hondurans living abroad (mostly in the U.S.) rose 28% to $410 million in 2000. The lempira (currency) was devaluing for many years but stabilized at L19 to the US dollar in 2005. The minimum wage is USD150 a month (probably obsolete datum). The people of Honduras are among the poorest in Latin America; Gross national income per capita (2007) is $US 1,649; the average for Central America is $US 6,736. Honduras is the third poorest country in the Western Hemisphere; only Haiti and Nicaragua are poorer. Utilizing alternative statistical measurements in addition to the Gross Domestic Product can provide greater context for the nation's poverty.

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was at times referred to as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize. The country is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea.

Honduras was home to several important indigenous cultures, most notably the Maya. Much of the country was conquered by Spain who introduced its predominant language and many of its customs in the sixteenth century. It became independent in 1821 and has been a republic since the end of Spanish rule.

Its size is just over 112,492 km² with an estimated population of almost eight million. Its capital is Tegucigalpa. Its northern portions are part of the Western Caribbean Zone.

It is notable for its production of minerals, tropical fruit, and recently for exportation of clothing for the international market.

Peter Hakim is president emeritus and senior fellow of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank on Western Hemisphere affairs. He served as president of the Dialogue from 1993 to 2010.

Peter Hakim writes and speaks widely on hemispheric issues, and has testified more than a dozen times before Congress. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, and Financial Times, and in newspapers and journals in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and other Latin American nations. He is a regular guest on CNN, BBC, CBS, CNN en Español and other prominent news stations around the world. He wrote a monthly column for the Christian Science Monitor for nearly ten years, and now serves as a board member of Foreign Affairs Latinoamerica and editorial advisor to Americaeconomia, where he also publishes a regular column.^{[citation needed]}

Hakim was a vice president of the Inter-American Foundation and worked for the Ford Foundation in New York and Latin America (in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru). He has taught at MIT and Columbia University. He has served on boards and advisory committees for the World Bank, Council on Competitiveness, Inter-American Development Bank, Canadian Foundation for Latin America (FOCAL), Partners for Democratic Change, and Human Rights Watch. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.