Hong Kong

Occupied by the UK in 1841, Hong Kong was formally ceded by China the following year; various adjacent lands were added later in the 19th century. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and the UK on 19 December 1984, Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997. In this agreement, China promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system would not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong would enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Hong Kong dollar (ISO code: HKD)
* Central bank discount rate: 0.5% (31 December 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 5% (31 December 2009)
* Stock of money (M1): $127.3 billion (31 December 2009)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $757.6 billion (31 December 2009)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Hong Kong: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	163 283	169 121	166 593	163 781	158 572	165 886	177 772	189 932	207 069	215 355
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Hong Kong: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Hong Kong: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Hong Kong: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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==
* Hong Kong on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Hong Kong
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries