Malta

Great Britain formally acquired possession of Malta in 1814. The island staunchly supported the UK through both world wars and remained in the Commonwealth when it became independent in 1964. A decade later Malta became a republic. Since about the mid-1980s, the island has transformed itself into a freight transshipment point, a financial center, and a tourist destination. Malta became an EU member in May 2004 and began using the euro as currency in 2008.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
* Central bank discount rate: 1% (31 December 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 5.89% (31 December 2008)
* Stock of money (M1): $4.639 billion (31 January 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $8.771 billion (31 January 2008 est.)
* is part of the Eurozone since 2008
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Malta: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	3 646	3 893	3 850	4 240	5 001 	5 600 	5 919 	6 394 	7 449 	
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Malta: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	 	 	 	 	81.476	83.566	83.887	75.967	72.612	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Malta: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	 	 	 	 	37.257	38.742	38.098	38.136	39.231	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Malta: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.	 	 	 	 	44.950	43.925	42.740	42.382	41.728	
Debt to revenue (years) 	 	 	 	 	2.187 	2.157 	2.202 	1.992 	1.851 	
==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==
* Malta on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Malta
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries