Banco De Honduras And Lloyds Bank example essay topic

LAND More than three-fourths of the land area of Honduras is mountainous, lowlands being found only along the coasts and in the several river valleys that penetrate toward the interior. The interior takes the form of a dissected upland with numerous small peaks. The main surface features have a general east-west orientation. There is a narrow plain of alluvium bordering the Gulf of Fonseca in the south.

The southwestern mountains, the Volcanic Highlands, consist of alternating layers of rock composed of dark, volcanic detritus and lava flows, both of Tertiary age. The northern mountains in other regions are more ancient, with granite and crystalline rocks predominating. ECONOMY Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. Government plans seek to promote and expand the manufacturing sector, diversify agriculture, improve transportation facilities, and develop hydroelectric projects. In 1999 electricity production amounted to 3.3 billion kilowatt-hours, of which 65.56 percent was hydroelectric. The national budget in 1995 included $713 million in revenue and $591 million in expenditure.

The gross domestic product, which measures the total value of goods and services produced, was $5.4 billion in 1999. Honduras is a poor country, and the majority of Hondurans work under extremely difficult conditions. The government has, however, adopted more active economic policies since the mid-20th century. In 1954 striking banana workers led the trade union movement to one of its most resounding triumphs, which resulted in the promulgation of a labour code that is considered one of the most complete instruments of its kind in Latin America. The code has generally resulted in a higher standard of living for the worker and better operating conditions for business; labour laws are not always strictly applied, however, and some workplaces are substandard. Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, is banking on expanded trade privileges under the Enhanced Caribbean Basin Initiative and on debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative.

While reconstruction from 1998's Hurricane Mitch is at an advanced stage, and the country has met most of its macroeconomic targets, it failed to meet the IMF's goals to liberalize its energy and telecommunications sectors. Economic growth has rebounded nicely since the hurricane and should continue in 2001. PEOPLE Honduras has been inhabited since well before the 1st century AD. The ruins at Cop " an in western Honduras indicate that the area was the centre of Mayan civilization before the Maya migrated to the Yucat " an Peninsula. Most of the American Indians are Lenca and are now found in the southwest, near the Guatemala border, close to the most important Indian centres of the pre-Columbian period.

Small, isolated groups of non-Spanish-speaking Indians-such as the Jica que, Miskito (Mosquito), and Pay a-continue to live in the northeast, although their numbers are declining. Of the total population, about nine-tenths is mestizo. Blacks of West Indian origin and Garifuna make up a significant part of the population along the Caribbean coast, an area where English is widely spoken. The official language of Honduras is Spanish, and the predominant religion is Roman Catholicism, more than four-fifths of the population being adherents. The largest of the remaining groups are Protestant, with notable congregations in the east and on the Bay Islands. There has been rapid growth in Protestant churches, especially since the upheaval caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

GOVERNMENT Honduras was governed under the constitution of 1965 until 1972, when it was largely suspended after a coup. A new constitution was adopted in 1982. LOCATION Honduras is approximately 1000 miles southwest of Miami and has a mainly mountainous area of 48,200 square miles. To the North it has a large coastal line with the Caribbean sea and to the South it enjoys a small access to the Pacific. HISTORY Honduras lies at what was the southern tip of the Mayan civilization that spread southwards from the Yucat " an peninsula through modern Guatemala to the city of Cop " an, now in north-west Honduras. The Mayan civilization collapsed long before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, who visited Trujillo in north-east Honduras in 1502 on his third voyage to the new world.

The country was colonized by Spain after some resistance by the Lenca peoples of the central highlands. Their chief, Lempira, who was murdered by the Spaniards, became a national symbol after independence. On independence in 1821 Honduras joined the Central American Federation, and the Honduran general, Francisco Moral " an, became its first president. He also entered the of national heroes after he was killed in the break-up of the federation in 1839. Honduras' liberal revolution took place in the 1870's under the presidency of Marco Aurelio Soto. In 1899 the first banana concession was granted to the Va carro brothers; their company would later become Standard Fruit.

In 1907 Sam Ze murray set up the Cuyamel Fruit Company; later bought by United Fruit. The unequal relationship that would exist between the companies and the Honduran state for the first half of the 20th century gave rise to the description 'banana republic. ' Between 1932 and 1948 Honduras was ruled by a dictator, Tiburcio Carias And ino. After the fall of Carias, Honduras began an uneven process of political and economic modernization. In 1954, Honduras signed a military treaty with the US government, which was concerned for its strategic interests in the region following the rise of the Ar benz government in Guatemala. In 1957 a Liberal president, Ram " on Villeda Morales, was elected.

His administration promoted the first agrarian reform and saw the beginning of social welfare legislation. He also took Honduras into the Central American Common Market, the Mercado Com " un Centro am " erica no which was founded in 1960. President Villeda was ousted from power by a military coup in 1963 and General Oswaldo L'open Arellano became president. General L'open Arellano tried to resolve growing land conflicts in the West at the cost of Salvadorian immigrants, and as a result, Honduras fought a brief war with El Salvador in 1967 that went into the history books as the 'soccer war's ince it was triggered by abusive treatment of the Honduran team during a World Cup qualifying game in San Salvador. In his second presidency, from 1972 to 1975, General L'open Arellano supervised the most radical phase of the agrarian reform, which took the form of a colonization movement in the Agu " an valley, during which rangers were cleared from the valley to make way for peasant cooperatives dedicated to bananas and African palm. A state forestry corporation, Corporati " on Hondureia de Desarrollo Forest al, was established, marking the start of a period of military government that also saw the foundation of the Corporati " on Nacional de Inversions.

These initiatives led to a rapid increase in external debt, to US$1.5 bn by the end of the 1970's. The 1980's was a period of political and economic crisis in Honduras. The world recession of 1979 and the debt crisis of 1982 revealed the flaw in a development strategy that relied on foreign borrowing to pay for public spending. The first half of the 1980's were dominated by the Contra war in Nicaragua.

The Honduran army turned a blind eye to the Contras' presence in southern Honduras, and in return the liberal government of Roberto Su azo C'ordo va received economic and military aid from the USA. This was a period of internal repression by the armed forces under the command of General Gustavo Alvarez Mart " inez, during which approximately 170 left-wing activists 'disappeared. ' However, the focus of US policy gradually shifted towards supporting democratic governments in Central America. This helped to consolidate democratic rule in Honduras and put an end to the long tradition of military coups. In the late 1980's, during the government of the Liberal president Jos'e Sim " on Ancona, as the Contra war waned, the US government pressed with increasing insistence for economic policy reforms on the lines of structural adjustment packages advocated by the World Bank. THE HONDURAN PEOPLE Over two thousand years of history are richly displayed in Honduras' numerous Mayan archaeological sites and vestiges of early Spanish colonialism.

As a result of this diverse history, the Honduran people are an ethnic mix of native Indian, Spanish and other nationalities. Honduras has enjoyed long lasting cultural, economic and political ties with the United States. Visitors and foreign residents in Honduras are often pleasantly surprised by the welcoming attitude of Hondurans. Foreign residents live securely, and in pleasant surroundings, in all regions of the country. POPULATION Honduras has a population of over five million.

It is growing at an average annual rate of 3%. The urban population is increasing at a much higher rate. About 700,000 people live in the capital city of Tegucigalpa and 350,000 live in San Pedro Sula, the largest industrial city. LANGUAGE The official language is Spanish. English is widely used as a second language. POLITICAL STRUCTURE Today Honduras has a stable democratic government that is committed to private enterprise.

In January 1994 president Carlos Roberto Reina of the Partido Liberal started his four year term. He replaced president Rafael Leonardo Callejas of the Partido Nacional. The president is elected for a single term as the head of state and the head of government. He appoints the governors of the eighteen departments of Honduras.

There are three vice-presidents, who bear the title design ado. The legislature is the National Assembly, with one member and a substitute elected for every 35,000 voters. There is a single national election on the bases of universal adult suffrage for the president and the legislature. Seats in the legislature are allocated to each party according to its vote in each region. This tends to make for domination of the political system by the president, which enforces party loyalty. Honduras has a US-style legal system with a Supreme Court at its apex.

Two parties, the Partido Liberal and the Partido Nacional have dominated electoral politics throughout the 20th century. The PL's origins lie in the anti-clerical reform movement of the 1880's. The party has a strong rural base linked to conservative land owners and to small peasants. It also has an important urban base, which tends to be more radical in Tegucigalpa and more business based in San Pedro Sula. The PN originated in a split in the PL and emerged as a coherent group in the 1920's. Its strongholds tend to be in rural areas and the backward departments of the west and south.

By tradition politically more conservative then the Liberals, the PN has rarely won elections. When the party came under the leadership of Rafael Leonardo Callejas, a young technocrat who managed to reorganize it as a potent electoral force and to establish support for a radical Structural Adjustment Program among its leading factions. At the same time, he shored up private business support for the party, and it is now much better organized and financed than its rivals. There are two other legally established political parties, the Partido Dem " oc rata Cristian a de Honduras and the Partido de Innova ci " on y Unidad.

Each of them is left of center and neither is a serious electoral force. CURRENCY AND BANKING The Honduran currency is the lempira. Having been set at Lps 2: US$1 since 1919, the lempira was effectively devalued in the March 1990 economic package of the Callejas government. Almost all transactions were shifted to an inter bank rate of Lps 4: US$1. Further adjustment took the rate to Lps 5.3: US$1 by the end of 1990.

A new law requiring exporters to repatriate their foreign exchange earnings; and renewed flows of balance-of-payments support from the IMF, World Bank, IDB and USAID stabilized the rate. In 1992 congress approved a law allowing the establishment of casa de gambia, which institutionalized the free-market rate for the first time. In mid 1992 the exchange rate was fully liberalized and by year end it had depreciated to Lps 5.9: US$1, a level that held stable into early 1993. In January 1994 the rate was Lps 7.3: US$1 and in January 1996 it jumped to 10.1: US$1. In January of 1997 it was 13: US$1.

There are about 20 private banks in Honduras, including two foreign banks: Citibank, whose local subsidiary is the Banco de Honduras, and Lloyds Bank. Apart from the Central Bank, the main state banks include the agricultural development bank, Banco Agricola de Desarrollo and a municipal development bank. The Central Bank plans to rely increasingly on open market operations to regulate credit conditions. EDUCATION Accredited bi-lingual schools from kindergarten through high school provide a quality education to children of US residents. Graduates are regularly accepted in US Ivy League colleges.

LIFESTYLE Foreign Investors, managers, and technical staff living in, or temporarily visiting Honduras, will find living conditions comfortable, and a wide variety of pleasurable activities easily available. Spacious housing of brick and masonry construction, usually with atrium's or inner patios, in well cared for residential areas, is the norm. Apartment complexes offer fully equipped one to three bedroom apartments, to those who prefer a more central location. Domestic help is plentiful at a modest cost.

International standard hotels and apart-hotels offer single rooms and small suites to those who make short visits. CULTURAL ACTIVITIES Shopping malls and supermarkets are conveniently located, with ample parking space. They carry products similar to those sold in the US. A wide selection of restaurants offers continental and Asiatic cuisine as well as local specialties. Modern movie houses feature first run films about the same time they are shown in the US. Cable TV is available in the principal cities, with more then twenty English language channels.

Satellite TV distributors will install and service individual home units at a reasonable cost. HEALTH Adequate health care facilities are provided by over twenty-five hospitals and clinics. If necessary, specialized US care in Miami, New Orleans or Houston, is only two hours flight time from Honduras. Dental clinics with up to date equipment are numerous. Many Honduran physicians and dentists received training in the US and Europe.