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Honduras is a democratic republic in Central America. It wasformerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras (now Belize). The country is bordered to the west byGuatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, tothe south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by theGulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea. Honduras has estimatedpopulation of 7.5 million. The climate varies from tropical in the lowlands totemperate in the mountains. The central and southern regions are relativelyhotter and less humid than the northern coast. The Honduran territory consistsmainly of mountains, but there are narrow plains along the coasts, a largeundeveloped lowland jungle La Mosquitia region in the northeast, and theheavily populated lowland San Pedro Sula valley in the northwest.  In La Mosquitia, lies the UNESCO-worldheritage site Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, with the Coco River which dividesthe country from Nicaragua.

Honduras is one of the 10 poorest countries in the WesternHemisphere with GDP per capita at US$3,300 per year (2007). The economy hascontinued to grow slowly but the distribution of wealth remains very polarizedwith average wages remaining low. Approximately 3.7 million of the populationstill remain below the poverty line. It is estimated that there are more than1.2 million people who are unemployed, the rate of unemployment standing at27.9%.

Both the electricity services (ENEE) and land-line telephoneservices (HONDUTEL) have been operated by government agencies, with ENEEreceiving heavy subsidies because of chronic financial problems. HONDUTEL,however, is no longer a monopoly, the telecommunication sector having beenopened to private-sector companies after December 25, 2005; this was one of therequirements before approving the beginning of CAFTA. There are price controlson petrol, and other temporary price controls for basic commodities are oftenpassed for short periods by the Congress. After years of declining against theU.S. dollar the Lempira has stabilized at around 19 Lempiras per dollar. InJune 2008 the exchange rate between United States Dollars and Honduran Lempiraswas approximately 1 to 18.85. In 2005 Honduras signed the CAFTA (Free TradeAgreement with USA). In December 2005, Honduras' main seaport Puerto Cortes wasincluded in the U.S. Container Security Initiative.

The Honduran Supreme Court has recently amended Article 107of the Honduras Constitution to allow foreigners to legally purchase and ownreal estate near all coastline and land borders. With this issue resolved,foreigners can now buy real estate anywhere in Honduras with confidence thatHonduras law will protect their investments.