Tonga

Tonga - unique among Pacific nations - never completely lost its indigenous governance. The archipelagos of "The Friendly Islands" were united into a Polynesian kingdom in 1845. Tonga became a constitutional monarchy in 1875 and a British protectorate in 1900; it withdrew from the protectorate and joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970. Tonga remains the only monarchy in the Pacific.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Paʻanga (ISO code: TOP)
* Central bank discount rate: 
* Commercial banks lending rate: 12.47% (31 December 2009 )
* Stock of money (M1): $36.16 million (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $100.7 million (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Tonga: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05. 	162 	155 	137 	149 	173 	203 	218 	238 	259 	278
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Tonga: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Tonga: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Tonga: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-05.	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
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==
* Tonga on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Tonga
* Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries