Sri Lanka

The first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka late in the 6th century B.C. probably from northern India. Buddhism was introduced in about the mid-third century B.C., and a great civilization developed at the cities of Anuradhapura (kingdom from circa 200 B.C. to circa A.D. 1000) and Polonnaruwa (from about 1070 to 1200). In the 14th century, a south Indian dynasty established a Tamil kingdom in northern Sri Lanka. The coastal areas of the island were controlled by the Portuguese in the 16th century and by the Dutch in the 17th century. The island was ceded to the British in 1796, became a crown colony in 1802, and was united under British rule by 1815. As Ceylon, it became independent in 1948; its name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. Tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists erupted into war in 1983. After two decades of fighting, the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) formalized a cease-fire in February 2002 with Norway brokering peace negotiations. Violence between the LTTE and government forces intensified in 2006 and the government regained control of the Eastern Province in 2007. In May 2009, the government announced that its military had finally defeated the remnants of the LTTE and that its leader, Velupillai PRABHAKARAN, had been killed.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Sri Lankan Rupee (ISO code: LKR)
* Central bank discount rate: 7.5% (31 December 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 10.91% (31 December 2009)
* Stock of money (M1): $2.462 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $11.01 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Sri Lanka: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	15 656	16 331	15 746 	17 103 	18 882 	20 663 	24 406	28 281	32 363	40 565
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Sri Lanka: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	95.108	96.904	103.219	102.032	102.271	102.329	90.605	88.699	84.994	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Sri Lanka: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	17.713	16.797	16.640 	15.887 	15.159 	14.892 	15.479	16.226	15.774	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Sri Lanka: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.	21.219	22.989	23.813 	22.149 	20.478 	20.711 	20.196	21.148	20.047	
Debt to revenue (years) 	5.370 	5.769 	6.203 	6.422 	6.747 	6.871 	5.853 	5.467 	5.388 	
==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==
* Sri Lanka on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Sri Lanka
* 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
Category:Countries