Moldova

Part of Romania during the interwar period, Moldova was incorporated into the Soviet Union at the close of World War II. Although the country has been independent from the USSR since 1991, Russian forces have remained on Moldovan territory east of the Dniester River supporting the Slavic majority population, mostly Ukrainians and Russians, who have proclaimed a "Transnistria" republic. One of the poorest nations in Europe, Moldova became the first former Soviet state to elect a Communist, Vladimir VORONIN, as its president in 2001. VORONIN served as Moldova's president until he resigned in September 2009, following the opposition's gain of a narrow majority in July parliamentary elections and the Communist Party's (PCRM) subsequent inability to attract the three-fifths of parliamentary votes required to elect a president. Moldova's four opposition parties formed a new coalition, the Alliance for European Integration (AEI), which will act as Moldova's governing coalition until new parliamentary elections can be held, possibly in summer 2010. Moldova experienced significant political uncertainty in 2009, holding two general elections (in April and July) and four presidential ballots in parliament, all of which failed to secure a president.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Moldovan leu (ISO code: MDL)
* Central bank discount rate: 
* Commercial banks lending rate: 21.06% (31 December 2008)
* Stock of money (M1): $1.116 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $1.928 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Moldova: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	1 171 	1 288 	1 481 	1 662 	1 981 	2 598 	2 988 	3 408 	4 402 	6 047
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Moldova: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	77.898	73.019	60.775	59.559	52.534	51.955	32.425	29.179	23.240	18.466
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Moldova: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	23.961	24.503	21.244	24.798	26.709	28.783	31.689	33.308	34.248	34.406
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Moldova: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.	29.000	28.925	22.279	 	22.217	27.259	29.318	31.866	32.410	32.822
Debt to revenue (years) 	3.251 	2.980 	2.861 	2.402 	1.967 	1.805 	1.023 	0.876 	0.679 	0.537
==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==
* Moldova on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Moldova
* 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