Malaysia

During the late 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain established colonies and protectorates in the area of current Malaysia; these were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. In 1948, the British-ruled territories on the Malay Peninsula formed the Federation of Malaya, which became independent in 1957. Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the former British colonies of Singapore and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo joined the Federation. The first several years of the country's history were marred by a Communist insurgency, Indonesian confrontation with Malaysia, Philippine claims to Sabah, and Singapore's secession from the Federation in 1965. During the 22-year term of Prime Minister MAHATHIR bin Mohamad (1981-2003), Malaysia was successful in diversifying its economy from dependence on exports of raw materials to expansion in manufacturing, services, and tourism.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Ringgit (ISO code: MYR)
* Central bank discount rate: NA%
* Commercial banks lending rate: 6.08% (31 December 2008)
* Stock of money (M1): $51.51 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $200.9 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Malaysia: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	79 148	93 790	92 784	100 846	110 202	124 749	137 954	156 408	186 721	221 773
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Malaysia: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Malaysia: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	20.907	18.499	23.951	23.071 	22.354 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Malaysia: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.	18.439	15.619	18.567	21.803 	18.952 	 	 	 	 	
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==
* Malaysia on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Malaysia
* BBC country profile
* Malaysian Muslims Go for Gold, But It's Hard to Make Change by James Hookway, September 2010
Category:Countries