Australia

Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name of Great Britain. Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. In recent decades, Australia has transformed itself into an internationally competitive, advanced market economy. It boasted one of the OECD's fastest growing economies during the 1990s, a performance due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s. Long-term concerns include climate-change issues such as the depletion of the ozone layer and more frequent droughts, and management and conservation of coastal areas, especially the Great Barrier Reef.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Australian dollar (ISO code: AUD)
* Central bank discount rate: 4% (31 March 2010)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 6.02% (31 December 2009 )
* Stock of money (M1): $248.5 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $617 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Australia: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05. 	380 849	405 111	369 895	384 949	455 256	598 486	674 817	724 359	820 974	1 015 220
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Australia: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05. 	29.946 	28.384 	26.312 	24.388 	23.462 	21.580 	21.196 	20.478 	19.420 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Australia: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05. 	24.188 	24.885 	25.937 	25.082 	25.373 	25.525 	25.808 	25.753 	25.382 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Australia: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05.	23.619 	23.102 	25.268 	25.518 	24.613 	24.660 	24.586 	23.952 	23.624 	
Debt to revenue (years) 	1.238 	1.141 	1.014 	0.972 	0.925 	0.845 	0.821 	0.795 	0.765 	
==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==
* Australia on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Australia
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries