Lesotho
| Country summary | |
|---|---|
|
Capital |
Maseru |
|
Borders |
South Africa 909 km |
|
Government type |
parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
|
Population |
2,130,819[1] |
|
Population growth |
0.116% (2010 est.)[1] |
|
Life expectancy |
40.38 years[1] |
|
Unemployment |
45% (2002)[1] |
|
155[2] | |
|
89[3] | |
|
130[4] | |
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.[1]
Economical characteristics
- Currency: Lesotho loti/Loti (ISO code: LSL)
- Central bank discount rate: 10.66% (31 December 2009)[1]
- Commercial banks lending rate: 13% (31 December 2009 )[1]
- Stock of money (M1): $416.5 million (31 December 2008)[1]
- Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $108.1 million (31 December 2008)[1]
Notable events:
- Banking crisis: 1988[5]
Statistics
| Statistic / Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP (million USD)[6] | 808 | 783 | 711 | 670 | 994 | 1 290 | 1 376 | 1 518 | 1 670 | 1 622 |
| Govt. debt (% of GDP)[7] | ||||||||||
| Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[8] | 46.824 | 48.302 | 45.549 | 42.987 | 46.119 | 51.048 | 51.815 | 63.175 | 60.502 | 65.258 |
| Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[9] | 42.150 | 42.235 | 40.372 | 40.006 | 41.704 | 45.308 | 44.009 | 51.184 | ||
| 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.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Lesotho", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-10-04.
- ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Lesotho", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-04.
- ↑ Transparency International. "Lesotho", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-10-04.
- ↑ Doing Business. "Lesotho", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-04.
- ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 372. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-20.
- ↑ World Bank. "Lesotho: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
- ↑ World Bank. "Lesotho: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
- ↑ World Bank. "Lesotho: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
- ↑ World Bank. "Lesotho: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-04.
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
