Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.
Productivity remains low.
Basic problems facing the economy include rapid population growth, high unemployment, 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. In 1993 the large fiscal deficit emerged as a key economic problem, the result of improvident state spending. University of Missouri-St.