Philippines

The Philippine Islands became a Spanish colony during the 16th century; they were ceded to the US in 1898 following the Spanish-American War. In 1935 the Philippines became a self-governing commonwealth. Manuel QUEZON was elected president and was tasked with preparing the country for independence after a 10-year transition. In 1942 the islands fell under Japanese occupation during World War II, and US forces and Filipinos fought together during 1944-45 to regain control. On 4 July 1946 the Republic of the Philippines attained its independence. A 20-year rule by Ferdinand MARCOS ended in 1986, when a "people power" movement in Manila ("EDSA 1") forced him into exile and installed Corazon AQUINO as president. Her presidency was hampered by several coup attempts that prevented a return to full political stability and economic development. Fidel RAMOS was elected president in 1992. His administration was marked by increased stability and by progress on economic reforms. In 1992, the US closed its last military bases on the islands. Joseph ESTRADA was elected president in 1998. He was succeeded by his vice-president, Gloria MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, in January 2001 after ESTRADA's stormy impeachment trial on corruption charges broke down and another "people power" movement ("EDSA 2") demanded his resignation. MACAPAGAL-ARROYO was elected to a six-year term as president in May 2004. The Philippine Government faces threats from three terrorist groups on the US Government's Foreign Terrorist Organization list. Decades of Muslim insurgency in the southern Philippines have led to a peace accord with one group and on-again/off-again peace talks with another.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Peso (ISO code: PHP)
* Central bank discount rate: 3.5% (31 December 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 6.89% (31 December 2009)
* Stock of money (M1): $24.32 billion (30 November 2009)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $55.71 billion (30 November 2009)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Philippines: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	76 157	75 913	71 216	76 814	79 634	86 930	98 824	117 534	144 043	166 909
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Philippines: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	59.414	52.921	59.665	66.483	71.386	77.723	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Philippines: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	15.923	15.165	15.436	14.345	14.842	14.550	14.980	16.170 	15.756 	15.797
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Philippines: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.	 	17.450	 	 	19.618	18.589	17.943	17.475 	17.225 	17.049
Debt to revenue (years) 	3.731 	3.490 	3.865 	4.635 	4.810 	5.342 	 	 	 	
==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==
* Philippines on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Philippines
* 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