Samoa

New Zealand occupied the German protectorate of Western Samoa at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It continued to administer the islands as a mandate and then as a trust territory until 1962, when the islands became the first Polynesian nation to reestablish independence in the 20th century. The country dropped the "Western" from its name in 1997.

Economical characteristics

• Currency: Tala (ISO code: WST)
• Central bank discount rate:
• Commercial banks lending rate: 12.08% (31 December 2009 )
• Stock of money (M1): $60.13 million (31 December 2008)
• Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $162.8 million (31 December 2008)

Statistics

Statistic / Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)	230	232	240	264	322	385	435	449	544	523
Govt. debt (% of GDP)
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)
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

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