Lesotho

Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. The Basuto National Party ruled for the first two decades. King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990, but returned to Lesotho in 1992 and was reinstated in 1995. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after seven years of military rule. In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious election prompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Botswana military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community. Subsequent constitutional reforms restored relative political stability. Peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002, but the National Assembly elections of February 2007 were hotly contested and aggrieved parties continue to dispute how the electoral law was applied to award proportional seats in the Assembly.

Economical characteristics

 * Currency: Lesotho loti/Loti (ISO code: LSL)
 * Central bank discount rate: 10.66% (31 December 2009)
 * Commercial banks lending rate: 13% (31 December 2009 )
 * Stock of money (M1): $416.5 million (31 December 2008)
 * Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $108.1 million (31 December 2008)

Notable events:

 * Banking crisis: 1988

Links

 * Lesotho on Wikipedia
 * Central bank of Lesotho
 * Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
 * BBC country profile