Czech Republic

Following the First World War, the closely related Czechs and Slovaks of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire merged to form Czechoslovakia. During the interwar years, the new country's leaders were frequently preoccupied with meeting the demands of other ethnic minorities within the republic, most notably the Sudeten Germans and the Ruthenians (Ukrainians). After World War II, a truncated Czechoslovakia fell within the Soviet sphere of influence. In 1968, an invasion by Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country's leaders to liberalize Communist party rule and create "socialism with a human face." Anti-Soviet demonstrations the following year ushered in a period of harsh repression. With the collapse of Soviet authority in 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its freedom through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution." On 1 January 1993, the country underwent a "velvet divorce" into its two national components, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.
== Economical characteristics ==
* Currency: Czech koruna (ISO code: CZK)
* Central bank discount rate: 0.25% (31 December 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 6.25% (31 December 2008)
* Stock of money (M1): $86.56 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $58.69 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Czech Republic: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-21. 	60 192	56 721	61 842	75 276	91 358	109 525	124 549	142 611	174 215	215 500
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Czech Republic: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-21. 	11.729	13.705	15.484	16.071	19.055	20.926 	23.014 	24.666 	25.063 	26.576
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Czech Republic: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-21. 	30.005	30.466	31.812	31.581	32.456	31.663 	31.548 	30.680 	31.165 	31.432
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Czech Republic: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-21.	31.242	33.394	35.389	37.268	37.300	35.288 	35.705 	35.554 	33.716 	34.133
Debt to revenue (years) 	0.391 	0.450 	0.487 	0.509 	0.587 	0.661 	0.730 	0.804 	0.804 	0.846
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Czech Republic on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Czech Republic
* Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
* Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
* BBC country profile
* Byli Přemyslovci podvodníci? ('Were the Přemyslids cheaters?' in Czech) by Jan Färber, about an 11th century inflation, December 2009
Category:Countries