Bolivia

Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and countercoups. Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982, but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug production. In December 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo MORALES president - by the widest margin of any leader since the restoration of civilian rule in 1982 - after he ran on a promise to change the country's traditional political class and empower the nation's poor, indigenous majority. However, since taking office, his controversial strategies have exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous communities of the eastern lowlands. In December 2009, President MORALES easily won reelection, and his party took control of the legislative branch of the government, which will allow him to continue his process of change.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Boliviano (ISO code: BOB)
* Central bank discount rate: 13% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 13.87% (31 December 2008)
* Stock of money (M1): $3.998 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $6.339 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Bolivia: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28. 	8 285	8 398	8 142	7 905 	8 082 	8 773 	9 549 	11 452	13 120	16 674
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Bolivia: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Bolivia: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28. 	 	 	 	18.377	18.796	20.242	22.972	23.204	23.266	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Bolivia: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-28.	 	 	 	28.784	28.208	27.211	25.983	23.938	21.811	
Debt to revenue (years) 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==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==
* Bolivia on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Bolivia
* 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