El Salvador

El Salvador achieved independence from Spain in 1821 and from the Central American Federation in 1839. A 12-year civil war, which cost about 75,000 lives, was brought to a close in 1992 when the government and leftist rebels signed a treaty that provided for military and political reforms.

Economical characteristics

 * Currency: U.S. dollar (ISO code: USD)
 * Central bank discount rate:
 * Commercial banks lending rate: 12.33% (31 December 2008)
 * Stock of money (M1): $213.7 million (31 December 2008)
 * Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $788.7 million (31 December 2008)

Notable events:

 * Banking crisis: 1989, 1998
 * Public default: 1828-1860, 1898, 1921-1922, 1932-1935, 1938-1946 (external), 1981-1996 (domestic)
 * Years in inflation: 3.5% (share of years 1838-2009 with annual inflation above 20 per cent per annum)

Links

 * El Salvador on Wikipedia
 * Central bank of El Salvador
 * 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
 * Expatriate to El Salvador? by James Dunlap, April 2010
 * Market Medicine in El Salvador by James Dunlap, March 2010