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The Economic Activity of Nicaragua

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When Violeta Chamorro took power in 1990, the economy of Nicaragua was in utter ruins due to civil wars that has plagued the country. It was only after Violeta Chamorro’s peace efforts that Nicaraguans finally got a relief from violence and concentrate on rebuilding the country.

Since 1990, Nicaragua have had made great strides toward macro-economic stability. In fact, just 100 days after Daniel Ortega sat as president in 2007, exports have topped the 1 billion-dollar mark, the first time that Nicaragua produced that much goods for international trade. Though figures are improving, it is still a grim picture for Nicaragua. Currently, underemployment is widespread and the fact remains that Nicaragua still remains to having the second lowest per capita income in the western part of world. In line with this, a staggering 46.5% of the population is well below the poverty line.

Right now, the country relies largely on textiles and apparel exports, which accounts for 60% of exported goods. Aside from textile and apparels, coffee, banana, sugarcane, cotton, rice, corn, tobacco, sesame, soya, beans, beef, veal, poultry, pork, shrimp, lobsters and dairy products are the top agricultural products being produced. On the industrial front, textiles, chemicals, food processing, machinery and metal products, petroleum refining and distribution, footwear, and wood products are the top money makers.

Considering the years 2007 and 2008 were a time of global recession, Nicaragua was able to stave off an economic setback and was still able to register a GDP real growth rate of 3.2%.

Now, with the people weary of widespread corruption in the government plus the government is now geared towards development and progress, as they say in Wall Street, when the chips are at the bottom, there is no way to go but up.