Cape Verde

The uninhabited islands were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese in the 15th century; Cape Verde subsequently became a trading center for African slaves and later an important coaling and resupply stop for whaling and transatlantic shipping. Following independence in 1975, and a tentative interest in unification with Guinea-Bissau, a one-party system was established and maintained until multi-party elections were held in 1990. Cape Verde continues to exhibit one of Africa's most stable democratic governments. Repeated droughts during the second half of the 20th century caused significant hardship and prompted heavy emigration. As a result, Cape Verde's expatriate population is greater than its domestic one. Most Cape Verdeans have both African and Portuguese antecedents.

Economical characteristics

 * Currency: Cape Verdean escudo (ISO code: CVE)
 * Central bank discount rate: 7.5% (31 December 2008)
 * Commercial banks lending rate: 9.99% (31 December 2008)
 * Stock of money (M1): $563.4 million (31 December 2008)
 * Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $721.3 million (31 December 2008)

Notable events:

 * Banking crisis: 1993

Links

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