Madagascar

Formerly an independent kingdom, Madagascar became a French colony in 1896 but regained independence in 1960. During 1992-93, free presidential and National Assembly elections were held ending 17 years of single-party rule. In 1997, in the second presidential race, Didier RATSIRAKA, the leader during the 1970s and 1980s, was returned to the presidency. The 2001 presidential election was contested between the followers of Didier RATSIRAKA and Marc RAVALOMANANA, nearly causing secession of half of the country. In April 2002, the High Constitutional Court announced RAVALOMANANA the winner. RAVALOMANANA achieved a second term following a landslide victory in the generally free and fair presidential elections of 2006. In early 2009, protests over increasing restrictions on opposition press and activities resulted in RAVALOMANANA stepping down and the presidency was conferred to the mayor of Antananarivo, Andry RAJOELINA. Following negotiations in July and August of 2009, a power-sharing agreement with a 15-month transitional period was established, but has not yet been implemented.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Malagasy ariary (ISO code: MGA)
* Central bank discount rate: NA%
* Commercial banks lending rate: 45% (31 December 2009 )
* Stock of money (M1): $1.216 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $667.2 million (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Madagascar: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04. 	3 717	3 878 	4 529 	4 397	5 474 	4 364 	5 039 	5 515 	7 343 	9 463
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Madagascar: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04. 	 	111.879	96.768	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Madagascar: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04. 	 	11.690 	10.150	7.999	10.694	12.086	10.955	11.655	11.890	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Madagascar: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.	 	10.620 	10.293	9.447	11.223	12.600	11.045	11.599	11.236	
Debt to revenue (years) 	 	9.570 	9.534 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==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==
* Madagascar on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Madagascar
* 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