Belgium

Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830; it was occupied by Germany during World Wars I and II. The country prospered in the past half century as a modern, technologically advanced European state and member of NATO and the EU. Tensions between the Dutch-speaking Flemings of the north and the French-speaking Walloons of the south have led in recent years to constitutional amendments granting these regions formal recognition and autonomy.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
* Central bank discount rate: 3% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 7.03% (31 December 2008)
* is part of the Eurozone
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Belgium: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	253 833	231 934	231 663	251 884	310 074	359 609	375 714	399 226	458 389	504 206
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Belgium: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	111.980	106.962	105.632	102.192	96.157 	91.080 	89.631 	85.603 	82.630 	88.032
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Belgium: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	42.957 	42.946 	43.085 	42.085 	43.146 	41.460 	41.577 	40.776 	40.226 	41.217
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Belgium: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.	44.108 	43.083 	43.755 	42.135 	43.428 	41.809 	44.515 	41.130 	41.003 	42.530
Debt to revenue (years) 	2.607 	2.491 	2.452 	2.428 	2.229 	2.197 	2.156 	2.099 	2.054 	2.136
==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==
* Belgium on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Belgium
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries