Sao Tome and Principe

Discovered and claimed by Portugal in the late 15th century, the islands' sugar-based economy gave way to coffee and cocoa in the 19th century - all grown with plantation slave labor, a form of which lingered into the 20th century. While independence was achieved in 1975, democratic reforms were not instituted until the late 1980s. The country held its first free elections in 1991, but frequent internal wrangling between the various political parties precipitated repeated changes in leadership and two failed coup attempts in 1995 and 2003. The recent discovery of oil in the Gulf of Guinea promises to attract increased attention to the small island nation.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Dobra (ISO code: STD)
* Central bank discount rate: 16% (31 December 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 32.4% (31 December 2009 )
* Stock of money (M1): $27.84 million (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $36.95 million (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999	2000	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Sao Tome and Principe: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04. 	 	 	76.460	90.714	97.994	106.765	113.808	124.524	144.919	174.610
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Sao Tome and Principe: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Sao Tome and Principe: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Sao Tome and Principe: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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==
* Sao Tome and Principe on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Sao Tome and Principe
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries