Republic of the Congo

Upon independence in 1960, the former French region of Middle Congo became the Republic of the Congo. A quarter century of experimentation with Marxism was abandoned in 1990 and a democratically elected government took office in 1992. A brief civil war in 1997 restored former Marxist President Denis SASSOU-NGUESSO, and ushered in a period of ethnic and political unrest. Southern-based rebel groups agreed to a final peace accord in March 2003, but the calm is tenuous and refugees continue to present a humanitarian crisis. The Republic of Congo was once one of Africa's largest petroleum producers, but with declining production it will need new offshore oil finds to sustain its oil earnings over the long term.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Central African CFA franc (ISO code: XAF)
* Central bank discount rate: 4.75% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: NA% (31 December 2008)
* Stock of money (M1): $1.811 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $268.4 million (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Republic of the Congo: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01. 	2 354	3 220	2 794 	3 020 	3 496 	4 649 	6 087 	7 731	7 646	10 723
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Republic of the Congo: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01. 	 	 	 	 	0.214 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Republic of the Congo: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01. 	 	 	32.269	31.911	31.551	32.744	39.937	 	 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Republic of the Congo: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01.	 	 	23.650	28.042	20.248	30.795	24.791	 	 	
Debt to revenue (years) 	 	 	 	 	0.007 	 	 	 	 	
==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==
* Republic of the Congo on Wikipedia
* Central bank of the Republic of the Congo
* Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries