Macedonia

Macedonia gained its independence peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece's objection to the new state's use of what it considered a Hellenic name and symbols delayed international recognition, which occurred under the provisional designation of "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia." In 1995, Greece lifted a 20-month trade embargo and the two countries agreed to normalize relations. The United States began referring to Macedonia by its constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia, in 2004 and negotiations continue between Greece and Macedonia to resolve the name issue. Some ethnic Albanians, angered by perceived political and economic inequities, launched an insurgency in 2001 that eventually won the support of the majority of Macedonia's Albanian population and led to the internationally-brokered Ohrid Framework Agreement, which ended the fighting by establishing a set of new laws enhancing the rights of minorities. Fully implementing the Framework Agreement and stimulating economic growth and development continue to be challenges for Macedonia, although progress has been made on both fronts over the past several years.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Macedonian denar (ISO code: MKD)
* Central bank discount rate: 6.5% (31 December 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 9.33% (31 December 2009)
* Stock of money (M1): $1.224 billion (31 December 2009)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $3.132 billion (31 December 2009)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Macedonia: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	3 673	3 587	3 437	3 791	4 630	5 368	5 815 	6 373 	7 927 	9 521
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Macedonia: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Macedonia: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	34.884	33.387	33.521	34.007
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Macedonia: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.	 	 	 	 	 	 	31.095	31.836	30.831	31.323
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==
* Macedonia on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Macedonia
* Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries