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Nicaragua's economy has historically been based on the export of cash crops such as bananas, coffee and tobacco. Nicaragua's rum is renowned as among the best in Latin America, and its tobacco and beef are also well regarded. During the Contra War in the early 1980's, much of the country's infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, and inflation ran for a time at several thousand per cent. Since the end of the war almost two decades ago, many state-owned industries have been privatized. Inflation has been brought to manageable levels, and the economy has grown quite rapidly in recent years. As in many other developing countries, a large segment of the economically poor in Nicaragua are women. In addition, a relatively high percentage of Nicaragua's average homes have a woman as head of household: 39% of urban homes and 28% of the rural ones. The country is still a recovering economy and it continues to implement further reforms, on which aid from the IMF is conditional. In 2005, finance ministers of the leading eight industrialized nations (G-8) agreed to forgive Nicaragua's foreign debt, as part of the HIPC program. The Nicaraguan unit of currency is the Córdoba (NIO) and was named after Francisco Hernández de Córdoba its national founder. |
Nicaragua Information: Inside
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