Macau

Colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century, Macau was the first European settlement in the Far East. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and Portugal on 13 April 1987, Macau became the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China on 20 December 1999. In this agreement, China promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system would not be practiced in Macau, and that Macau would enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Macanese pataca (ISO code: MOP)
* Central bank discount rate: 
* Commercial banks lending rate: 5.25% (31 December 2009)
* Stock of money (M1): $4.55 billion (31 December 2009)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $22.68 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Macau: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	5 917 	6 102 	6 187 	6 824 	7 925 	10 251	11 508	14 211	18 599	
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Macau: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Macau: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	22.534	19.937	22.353	21.699	24.052	24.623	25.834	25.569	28.724	32.543
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Macau: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.	20.683	16.676	16.963	16.129	15.171	12.307	12.216	11.373	9.988 	13.428
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==
* Macau on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Macau
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries